WWUTT 931 Wash One Another's Feet?

Jesus washed his disciples feet and this was not just a gesture to serve one another physically but also that we should serve one another's spiritual needs when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. So in our study of John 13, we still have to finish

Jesus' conversation with his disciples at their foot washing. Is that the official name of the story here in John 13 verses 1 through 20?

I'm going to start reading in verse 12. When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place at the table, he said to them,

Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are 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. I am not speaking to all of you.

I know whom I have chosen, but the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

So again, this is right after Jesus had washed his disciples' feet. And when he got to Peter, Peter refused.

He said, Lord, you're never going to wash my feet. And of course, Peter thinks he's being noble here.

He thinks he is showing humility in the fact that he's not going to let the teacher, the master, wash his feet.

So doesn't he want to look better than all of his other disciple friends there? He's kind of, you know, doing the whole teacher's pet thing.

I'm never going to let you wash my feet. And Jesus' response to Peter is, if I don't wash you, you have no share with me.

And then Peter jumps up and totally changes his tune and says, well, then Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Do all of it. Get me from head to toe. Let's do this. And then Jesus kind of calms down his overzealous reaction.

The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet.

But he is completely clean. Once he's been washed, he doesn't need to wash again. But his feet, because though we have been justified, we have been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, we still walk about in this world.

And in so doing, we're kicking up dust and getting ourselves dirty. And if we ask forgiveness for our sins,

God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. First John one nine. But even when we're looking at the process of sanctification is as not just I've sinned and so I'm asking for forgiveness because that's not necessarily sanctification.

That might be a portion of it, of realizing that I'm guilty for this. And so now

I need God to cleanse me. But sanctification is working out all of our worldly tendencies and becoming more

Christ like becoming more Christ minded. So there may be things that may not be like active sins that we've committed, but nevertheless would be worldly thinking that we need to have washed out of our mind by the by the water of the word.

Jesus will pray for his disciples coming up in John 17. He will say, Father, sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth. So it is by the word of God that we are sanctified, that we are cleansed and made holy and given the mind of Christ and being remade in his image, being conformed to his image.

It's all through the word of God. So this is a sanctification process that we must undergo every day, regardless of having committed any serious sin that we must therefore take before God and ask for forgiveness.

And we should be convicted of sin and we should try to stay away from sin. But we're still going to have some very fleshly tendencies, reactions to just life.

And as we do so, we're kicking up dust as we walk through this world. And so we don't need to be washed from head to toe again.

That process has been done. That process of justification of being made right and holy in the presence of God so that we can come into his presence and pray to our heavenly father and call him father and know that our requests are being heard by God because Jesus, the

God man who sits at the right hand of the father, is interceding for us on our behalf.

He is our mediator, our advocate, as John says in 1st John 2 1. So the one who was bathed, the one who has been washed and justified, declared innocent in the presence of God.

He doesn't need to do that again. That's happened once already. But as we go through this process of sanctification, walking the earth, kicking up dust, our feet are going to get dirty and we need our feet washed.

And it's the savior who does that for us. So Jesus has justified us and he is also sanctifying us.

He has justified us by his death on the cross so that all who believe in the finished work of Christ are justified.

And then he gives us his spirit and with the Holy Spirit living within us, Christ is also sanctifying us as well, making us more and more into his image.

Jesus says, you are clean, saying this to his disciples, but not every one of you.

For he knew who was to betray him and that is why he said, not all of you are clean. So that was verse 11 and then verse 12 when he had washed their feet and he put on his outer garments and resumed his place at the table, he said to them, do you understand what

I have done for you? Now remember earlier he said to his disciples, right now you do not understand what

I am doing. Jesus said to them in verse seven, what I am doing, you do not understand, but afterward you will understand.

And this is something that we see come up over and over again over the course of John's gospel. Just earlier in John chapter 12 at the triumphal entry, it says in John 12, 16, his disciples did not understand these things at first, but when

Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

So it's really not going to be until Christ is glorified that this stuff is going to make sense to them. We read in Luke chapter 24, as Jesus is going up to the

Mount of Olives with his disciples, it says that he opens their minds to understand that the scriptures had been written about him.

And it's not until there, it's not until all that he was doing in his earthly ministry was said and done, it was completed and he was ready to be glorified ascending back to the father and sitting at his right hand, that he opened the minds of his disciples to understand everything that he had told them.

So in this particular case, John 13, 7, he says, you don't understand this now, but later you will understand it.

And then after he has washed their feet, he says to them, do you understand what I have done for you?

It's not like Jesus is expecting them to just get it in the few minutes between when he first asked that question.

And now having finished this, going, okay, now do you guys get it? That's not the way that Jesus is approaching that necessarily, but it's a leading question that he may continue to teach them in the, in these things.

So that on the day that they do understand, they will remember what he has said.

So he says, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord for you are right.

So I am teacher is a master. It is someone who is over disciples, a word that means learner.

So Jesus' disciples were there to learn. He was the one with the knowledge. They were the ones who came to the teacher, clamoring for that knowledge, asking that he might show them what he knows.

And in this particular case, it would be the way to the father. How is it that we may know that we have eternal life?

We find that answer in Jesus. Peter even gave that kind of response to Jesus back in John chapter six, when after hundreds of disciples had walked away from Jesus, he turns around and looks at the 12 and says, how about you?

Are you going to leave me too? And Peter says, Lord, where else are we going to go? You're the one who has the words of eternal life.

Peter, once again, giving one of his teacher's pet answers, but nevertheless, we see in that an attitude among the twelve in particular toward Jesus, that he is the one who has the words to get to the father.

So they're learning from him to know how they might inherit the kingdom of God. Now, based on certain things that the disciples have said, and even right before Jesus ascends into heaven, according to the exchange between Jesus and his disciples in Acts chapter one, the disciples think that the kingdom that Jesus is ushering in is going to be an earthly political kingdom.

So he's going to free them from the tyranny of Rome and he's going to make Israel great again. OK, he's going to take his rightful place on the throne of Israel and they're going to be a superpower like they were in the days of David and Solomon.

That's what they are expecting. So that may be what they are hoping to learn from him. And even though he is lowly, meek and mild, still kind of at this place in his earthly ministry, they still expect that he is going to become the conqueror.

He will become the the warrior, he who will strike down their enemies with the sword, as was prophesied by the prophets.

So they're still kind of expecting that from him, even though they're they're walking around as homeless vagabonds for the most part.

And now they're in this upper room and Jesus is talking with him about going to die, which they don't even understand that.

And so yet they are still expecting that because of all these miraculous things he's done, healing the sick, raising the dead, calming a storm because of all of this that Jesus has done, he's just going to walk right up to the throne and take his place.

And by the power of God, he is going to put all things under his feet. That's what they're expecting to happen at this particular juncture.

Of course, Jesus has come here as savior. And those things of putting the nations under his feet won't come until later.

But the disciples don't understand that. So when he says to them, you call me Lord and teacher.

So, Lord, not just that he is one who is sent from God, because this isn't Lord in the

Yahweh sense, but Lord, that he is king, Lord, that he is ruler over the earth and teacher, that he is the one with wisdom from the father, which he shows to them.

So you call me teacher and Lord, and you are right. For so I am. He is the one with the words of the father, and he is

Lord over all the earth, having been given authority by the father. If I then your

Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

So in the in the position that I am in, which you acknowledge and you worship me in those in those positions as Lord and teacher, if I am willing to get down here and get dirty with you and wash your feet, if you know me as Lord and teacher, and yet I am willing to do this for you, how much more should you do this for one another?

Now, once again, Jesus is showing this to his disciples, doing physically for them, washing their feet, a spiritual application that ties in with sanctification.

So what Jesus is displaying by washing their feet has to do with how we are sanctified by Christ.

We are justified by him, completely washed. And then we are sanctified by him in that he washes our feet.

So if he's now applying this to the disciples, as I have done this for you, so you must do for one another.

How is it that we sanctify one another? Well, we have those instructions as well.

In Philippians chapter two, for example, the apostle Paul says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is also yours in Christ. Now looking to one another's interests, that certainly does.

One of the applications of that is certainly going to be showing charity to one another, helping each other, encouraging one another, building one another up.

But there's also going to be an admonishing aspect to this in that there are going to be times in which we are going to have to, out of love, correct a brother or sister in the

Lord. Someone who has gone wayward or someone who has stumbled into sin, correcting them, rebuking them, that they may be convicted over this and they may return to the path of righteousness.

This is also a way that we consider one another's needs ahead of our own. Also the instruction that we have in Romans chapter 15, for example, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

So in other words, we have been given the knowledge of God according to his word, and some are going to be mature in that knowledge, more mature than others, because they've had more experience.

They've had more learning. They've grown more in their sanctification. And so as they are more spiritually mature than others, they have an obligation to help those who are still growing spiritually.

And in so doing, we are also helping to put one another's needs ahead of our own.

For as Paul said there, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves, but to build up our neighbor for his good to build him up.

I'm going to jump back to Philippians again. So I read from Philippians 2, considering one another's needs ahead of our own.

In Philippians chapter 4, verse 2, the apostle Paul said, I entreat Iodia and I entreat

Sintash to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So you've got two women in the Philippian church who had been disagreeing with one another and Paul rebukes them in the sight of all, but then also says to the rest of the church, you have an obligation to help these women, to help them come to agreement with one another, that they may grow in love with each other.

And the body of Christ grows in love as it helps one another through these things.

Colossians chapter 3, verse 16, teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.

And this is with the word of Christ that dwells in you richly, as he had also said to the

Colossians, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom.

And you have Paul's instruction with Timothy 1 and 2 Timothy 4 to preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

And then in 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

And so this is just some of the ways that we help to sanctify one another.

And so Jesus is saying, as I have done this for you, so you must do this for each other.

Jesus has cleansed us and he has disciplined us and he is correcting us and he is teaching us and he is raising us up and he is serving us in this way.

And so we must serve one another in the same way as Christ gave us his word so that we may be sanctified.

We also must take the word of Christ to each other in the body of Christ that we may be sanctified when it comes to the

Christian faith. It's about more than just making converts, but that we also then raise those converts up and mature them.

If we're just all about making converts, then we're really not about making disciples. It's just adding a number to the church registry so that we might look good to our denomination or our association or anybody else in Christendom, for example.

But it's not really caring about souls, that they may be one out of this world and for the kingdom of God and become kingdom people.

Not just in the sense that now they're wearing the right jersey, but that they are growing in discipline and knowledge and the training and the instruction of the

Lord, that their minds are being conformed to Christ, that they're becoming less like this world and more like Jesus.

And that's something that we do for one another. There's not winning a person out of this world to become a

Christian and then leaving them on their own. That person will languish and they will apostatize and they will not grow in the understanding of the things of Christ unless we help one another.

And this is one of the ways that we grow in love and affection for each other when we wash one another's feet.

We can care for one another's physical needs. That's certainly important, but we must care for one another's spiritual needs, especially

Jesus says, for I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for 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. I am not speaking of all of you, he says,

I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture must be fulfilled. So Judas' betrayal of Jesus is going to be a fulfillment of the scripture.

That's why he said what he just said right there. There are the apostles who are there among him whom

Christ had chosen to become apostles. Judas was not going to become an apostle, one sent out from them into the world to build the church.

Judas was not going to be given that role, but he was chosen that the scripture might be fulfilled. He's not chosen to go out, but he was selected that the will of the father would be accomplished through the death of his son, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

God, who would arrange these things, who had set all of these things in motion, even arranged that a man named

Judas would perpetuate one of the greatest sins ever committed by man, the betrayal against Jesus Christ, turning him in, turning him over to the hands of his enemies, just as the scriptures foretold.

And even though Judas had done this grave and evil thing, God was doing it for good.

It's for our salvation that Jesus would die and rise again from the grave, though he was put to death by the hands of lawless men.

We walked in lawlessness before Jesus laid down his life for us and the gospel was preached to us and we heard and believed.

And so we are saved. So there's no reason for us to boast in ourselves, but rather we rejoice in God and so that his perfect plan might be accomplished in the fullness of time for us.

Jesus says, he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he truly, truly,

I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

Whoever has the son has the father also. If you have been adopted into the family of God, you have many brothers and sisters in Christ.

So let us, after the instruction of our Lord Christ, serve one another. Amen. Let us pray.

Our heavenly father, we thank you for the salvation we have received in Christ. Having remembered these things and reflected upon them over the

Easter weekend. But we do not forget them. For every single day, we desire to have a mind that is conformed to the image of our savior.

So lead us in these things in paths of righteousness, for your name's sake. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt

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