SS04-15-07

STUDY THEME: WHAT DOES JESUS WANT FROM US? SS04-15-07

“HUMBLE SERVICE.” JOHN 13: 1, 3-10a, 12-17.

JOHN 13: 1, 3-5, 6-10a, 12-17.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOHN 13.

This Study Theme, “What Does Jesus Want From Us?” completes a three-month study from the Gospel of John. The previous Study Theme examined things Jesus did for us---including His death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day.

Today’s Study Theme looks back at some of Jesus’ teachings, actions, and dialogue in the upper room on the evening before His death---His parting instructions to the disciples. It focuses on what Jesus wants from us as His followers.

We live in a me-first, take-care-of-number-one world. Even Christians get caught up in fulfilling personal desires and ambitions. Adults often ask, “What do I want from life” We should be asking, “What does Jesus want from me?”

The first of the three lessons remaining in April is “Humble Service,” which is based on Jesus washing the disciples feet and calling them to wash one another’s feet. The April 22 lesson is “Loving Obedience, “which is based on passages from John 13: 14: and 15.The final lesson, April 29, is “Steadfast Faithfulness” based on John 15: 18-16:4, which deals with persecution.

The Study Theme Life impact is designed to help us discover what Jesus wants from us by recognizing that Jesus blesses His followers who humbly serve others as He did and then desiring to receive Jesus’ blessing by humbly serving others even as He did.

Few incidents in the gospel story reveal the character of Jesus and so perfectly show His love, as at that time when He might have had supreme pride, He had supreme humility. Humility is not self-abnegation but losing oneself in service to others. Love is always like that, when, for example someone falls ill, the person who loves them will perform the most menials services and delight to do them, because love is like that.

Despite the fact that adults work within the “service” segment of our economy, most people have fully accepted society’s worldview---success means being served. From this perspective, serving others is a sign of weakness, inferiority, and lack of drive.

The world’s standard for measuring your success is the amount and quality of service you receive from others. Jesus set a very different standard.

One of the distinctive features of John’s Gospel is Jesus’ use of the word hour. Early in His ministry in John 2:4 He told His mother that His hour had not yet come. Later in John 7:6-8 He told His unbelieving brothers the same thing.

When some Greeks came wanting to see Jesus, they made their request through Philip who enlisted Andrew to tell Jesus. The Lord told them in John 12: 23, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” Jesus made plain that the cross was necessary, and He prayed to be saved from that hour, but He said that this had been His mission from the beginning. On his last night He knew that His hour had come. His hour involved both His death and His resurrection.

1. PLEASE READ JOHN 13: 1.

His public ministry completed, our Lord now devoted Himself for a brief period of a few hours to the inner circle of His apostles, those here designated “His own,” those whom God had given Him, as He said presently in Ch. 17 talking to His Father, out of the world. “Thine they were, and thou hast given them to Me.”

Ch. 13-17 was spoken by Jesus as a farewell on the night of His betrayal and arrest to communicate His coming legacy to His followers.

This period is divided very clearly into two parts as to location. During the first period, chapters 13 and 14, they were together in the upper room. The occasion was that of the Passover feast observed, and then relegated to the past. At the end of chapter 14, it is recorded that He said, “Arise, let us go hence.”

Unquestionably they then left the upper room. Then follow chapters fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, when the location was elsewhere.

While John 1 and 2 centers on the rejection of Jesus by the nation, Ch. 13-17 center on those who did receive Him.

John 13: 1 contains three great truths: (1) Jesus as the true Passover Lamb, (2) His awareness of His mission, and, (3) the extent of His love. Vs. 1 begins with a note about the time—before…Passover. Passover was the feast in which the Jews commemorate their deliverance form Egypt when the Lord passed over the houses with the blood of a lamb on the door frames.

It included the slaying of a lamb that was the main course in a meal that evening. Actually a one-day festival, combined with the feast of unleavened bread, it became a week-long experience.

Thus the word Passover could refer to the lamb, the supper, or the festival as a whole. Some Bible students take each of these meanings in vs. 1. Some believe that John was referring to the time when the lambs were slain. This would mean that the Last Supper took place before the slaying of the lamb. Vs. 1 would then mean “before the Passover Feast.” This is the view presented in Mark 14:12 and the traditional view. Jesus and the disciples ate a last supper on the evening after the lambs were slain.

Of course knowing the exact time of the killing of the Passover lamb is not as important as recognizing the significance. The death of Jesus identified Him as the fulfillment of the Passover lamb. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 5:7 “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” John the Baptist called Jesus in John 1:29 “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Just as the Lord’s Supper points back to Jesus’ death for us, so did the foot washing point ahead to it.

From Luke 22: 7-13 we learn how Jesus sent two of His disciples to prepare the upper room for the feast and the fellowship He had planned to have with His disciples

Jesus, in John 12:23, spoke of His hour as the time of His glorification. Like His references to being lifted up, His hour referred to the cross and the crown. Jesus knew that the way of the cross was essential for Him to accomplish the first. Heb. 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus was fully aware that this was His mission, and He recognized that His visit to Jerusalem would be His hour to suffer and to be glorified. He was not taken by surprise. John showed how Jesus was in control. He was not a victim or a martyr but a Savior.

The third insight in vs. 1 is in the words “having loved His own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” The Greek word for the last word can be translated “to the end” or “to the uttermost.”

The first of these emphasizes that Jesus fulfilled His mission of love. This was the self-giving love called agape. His cry from the cross in John 19:30 was “It is finished!” a cry of victory and completion.

The other translation emphasizes the full measure of His love. Here the focus is on His love for His own. He died for all, but here He had in mind His followers: “John 15: 13 says “No on has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”

John who was known for writing expressions that have more than one meaning, may have intended both meanings, for both are true.

Self-giving, unselfish love is the motivation power for humble service. Some service is not done in a humble way. Sometimes people expect special recognition for any act of service. Many others never serve others. Both groups need to experience and appreciate the love of Christ.

2. PLEASE READ JOHN 13: 3-5.

If we turn to Luke’s account of the last meal in Luke 22:24; we find there is more in the background of this passage than even John tells us. There we find the tragic sentence: “A dispute also arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as greatest.

The meal was in progress; and the devil had already put it into his heart that Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, should betray Jesus. In vs. 21-30 Jesus points out His betrayer. So shrewdly had Judas kept his secret that no one of them suspected him. Judas knew that Jesus knew his secret. But with a heart of steel he went forward with his dastardly crime.

Jesus had chosen Judas to fulfill the prophecy in Psalm 41:9 which says, “Even My friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against Me.”

Jesus knew the end had come. He was ready for it. Instead of calling it “crucified in John 13:31 He called it glorified. He dreaded the pain, but kept His eye on the joy beyond the pain.

Well knowing that His Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and that He was going back to God, Jesus rose from the meal and laid aside His outer robe, and took a towel and put it around Himself.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of His disciples and to wipe them with the towel. This was occasioned by their contention among themselves as to which of them were to have the chief offices in the Kingdom. That had been one of the standing problems for some time.

In spite of Jesus repeated statements that He was going to be crucified, which they took to be parables, they seemed to think that the Triumphal Entry, five days before portended that it was about time for Him to erect the throne of a world empire in Jerusalem.

Jesus finally had to get down on His hands and knees and wash their feet, the menial service of a slave, to burn into their minds that he had called them to serve, and not to Rule.

O how the church has suffered through the centuries because so many of its leaders have been consumed by the passion to be great! Powerful organizations and high offices have been created to satisfy men’s worldly and selfish ambitions.

Great churchmen, instead of humbly serving Christ, have used the name of Christ to serve themselves.

As you can imagine, washing someone else’s feet was not an easy chore. Generally, this menial task was assigned to the person of lowest rank in the household. This might be a servant or the youngest child.

Some Jews refused to ask a Jewish slave to wash feet, believing it was too demeaning for a Jew. Our Lord, who is the sovereign of the universe, takes the place of a slave.

Vs, 4-5 show how the washing of the feet was done. Jesus arose from His place at the table. Their custom was to recline at a meal, usually on the left side. This left the feet in an easier position to wash.

Notice each step in what Jesus did to prepare. The text reads like slow-motion film. Each action was forever etched in the minds of the disciples. They wondered why Jesus got up from the table. Then they watched as He laid aside His outer robe. Next He took a towel and wrapped it around Himself. Then He filled a basin with water. By this time they were aware that He intended to wash their feet.

3. PLEASE READ JOHN 13: 6-10a.

As Jesus began washing the disciples feet Simon Peter is watching. He sees Jesus go first to one and then another of his fellow-disciples, washing and wiping their feet. Peter’s heart is filled with indignation. “Why, will John allow Him to do anything so lowly as that. And Thomas and Matthew! Wait till He comes to me. I will never let the Lord humiliate Himself like that at my feet.”

Finally He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said, “Lord dost Thou wash my feet?” Listen to the answer of Jesus. He says, “No, Peter; there is a picture here. You do not yet comprehend.” “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

When was that “hereafter” to be? When would Peter really enter into the meaning of this and understand what it meant for Jesus to wash his feet? It was after he fell into the muck and mire of sin, after he, because of cowardice, denied his Lord and declared that he never knew the Man.

Then it was that Jesus sought him and applied the water of the Word to Peter’s defiled feet, and made him fit once more to walk in fellowship with the Lord. Jesus indicates that the understanding is to be in the future.

Peter, not realizing, said to Him again with greater emphasis, “Thou shalt never wash my feet?” You know it does not do to be too positive. “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” But Jesus answered, and I think there was wonderful tenderness in His voice as He met Peter’s loud affirmation in His own quiet tender way, “If I wash thou not, thou hast no part with Me.”

Shall we not take those words home to ourselves?----for they are not only for Peter, they are for all believers to the end of time. Jesus says to you, my friend, to me, to every one of us, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.”

Most of the twelve probably would have washed the Master’s feet---if He had asked, but none of them volunteered to wash the feet of the fellow disciples. It was too demeaning. It would have meant accepting an inferior position to the others. On more than one occasion they had argued among themselves about which one was the greatest. Each time Jesus patiently tried to teach them a basic principle about who is greatest.

Luke tells us that even on the last night together the disciples were arguing about who would be greatest. Jesus again tried to challenge them to see that the Lord’s standard for greatness is humble service to others. This was what He was trying to teach them when He washed their feet.

The world’s way is a powerful force in shaping how most people, even believers, think of success. Our society, like that of the first century, places great value on prestige and power. It is the exact opposite to the call of Jesus for a life of humble service.

A small boy needed some money to buy something he wanted. He decided to make a list of things he did---like keeping his room straight and taking out the garbage. He made his list and assigned monetary value to each item. Then he gave this to his mother.

A few days later he received a list of things she did for him. Beside each item she wrote “no charge.” The child looked at her long impressive list. He went to her and said, “I want to do things for you for nothing.”

4. PLEASE READ JOHN 13: 12-17.

After He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and sat down, He said, “Know ye what I have done to you?” Well, of course they had seen what He had done, but they had not learned the lesson yet. So He said, “Know ye what I have done to you?” “Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Now what is He telling us here? Some dear people, some of the most godly people believe that the Lord was instituting a third Christian ordinance, and so they observe from time to time what they call “Washing of Feet.”

But I am afraid sometimes one forgets that Jesus said, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” If it was a matter of literally washing feet in water they knew all about it. But it is easy to miss the real meaning of this act.

How do we wash one another’s feet? What was the water? The water was the Word. Of what do our feet speak? Our ways. We wash one another’s feet when we apply the Word of God to our ways.

When a Christian slips a bit you say, perhaps, “He was a wonderfully fine out-and-out Christian, but now he is getting a bit worldly.” But what are you going to do about it? You can just ignore it and pass it by, or you can criticize and say very unkind thing; but neither of these methods will help very much.

You can go to the dear brother or sister and tenderly point out from the Word of God the mistake they are making, the sin into which they are falling. You can show them how their lives are becoming defiled. Thus you wash their feet.

It takes grace to be kindly faithful. Some say to me, “Oh, well, I have tried it, but it doesn’t do any good.” We need much grace ourselves to wash another’s feet. If you are going to wash our neighbor’s feet, you ought to be careful about the temperature of the water.

You would not go to someone and say, “Put your feet into this bucket of scalding water, and I will wash your feet for you. Ice water is just as bad. Some people go at you in such a way that you jus shrink back from them. Some are so hot, and some are so cold and icy and formal. You don’t appreciate either; do you?

The proper thing is this, when you see your brother going wrong, get into the presence of the Lord about it. Then remember the word that tells us, as recorded in Gal. 6: 1: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

When you go to your brother like this seeking to apply the Word of God faithfully. He must be in a very bad state indeed if he will not listen. If he is not ready, you can continue to pray and wait for the time when God may permit you to help him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you. The servant is not grater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

What are the blessings of humble service? Humble Service meets human needs and thus brings joy to the one being helped and also to the one serving. There is a deep satisfaction in the hearts of those who help others in a time of need. Helping others gives meaning to our lives. Selfish living lacks this kind of meaningful purpose.

The two components of humble service are service to others and humility in the way it is done. Some service is done to bring recognition to the one rendering the service. Humble service is done for the sake of the needy and because it is the Lord’s will.

We sometimes sing:

Lord, let me live from day to day, in such a self-forgetful way, that even when I kneel to pray, my prayers will be for others.

Others, Lord, yes others, Let this my motto be: Help me live for others; that I may live like Thee.

As believers, we should practice humble service. Jesus is our example of humble service. Only as we know Jesus can we follow His example. Jesus blesses those who follow His example.

NEXT WEEK FROM JOHN 13, 14, AND 15 WE SEE THAT THOSE WHO LOVE JESUS DO WHAT HE TELLS THEM TO DO AND PRODUCE FRUIT THAT LASTS.

A. V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net http://theweeks.org/av/