Improving your Serve! John 13:1-17

Improving your Serve John 13:1-17

Introduction: I remember hearing Dr. James Dobson telling the story of a couple he was counseling. The husband had gotten very frustrated with his wife’s lack of care in the cleanliness of the house. She just didn’t seem to care that he worked all day and wanted to come home to a clean house. Well one day he came home and saw a chicken bone under the table! The worst thing was they weren’t having chicken for dinner, that was two nights ago! He was furious. He determined not to say anything, but to wait and see how long it took her to pick up that chicken bone. Each day he would come home and look, and sure enough that bone was still there. Finally, after a week, he could take it any more and he exploded. “Don’t you see that chicken bone?!” he shouted. “Do you realize that has been there all week?” His wife calmly replied, “That chicken bone has been there all week? Why didn’t you pick it up?” Sometimes we get so focused on “what we have coming to us,” that the idea of serving someone else just doesn’t come to mind. I remember the story of a student at a Bible school in the Philippines who became disturbed over the condition of the men’s rooms. When nothing was done to eliminate the filth, he took matters into his own hands and complained to the principal of the school. A little while later, the student noticed the problem was being corrected, but he saw with amazement that the man with the mop and pail in hand was the principal himself! Later the student commented: “I thought that he would call a janitor, but he cleaned the toilets himself. It was a major lesson to me on being a servant and, of course, it raised a question in my own mind as to why I hadn’t taken care of the problem!” A servant attitude is revealed by our actions. If we really love one another like Jesus said we should, are we willing to serve one another? Jesus showed His love by dying as a sacrifice for sinners when “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). As the Lord Himself will say a little further on in John, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Paul reminded the Ephesians, “Christ… loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma …” (Eph. 5:2). “We know love by this,” John wrote, “that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). Love is not just an emotion, it is a choice that shows itself in action. James said “faith without works is dead…” I think the biblical evidence would affirm the parallel truth that “love without works is dead…” Jesus showed his love, by becoming a servant. Do you have the mind of Christ? Do you have the attitude of a servant? How do you react one someone treats you like one? The Big Idea: Jesus showed His love for us by taking the form of a humble servant. We show our love by our willingness to serve.

I. AN ACT OF SERVANTHOOD: A Servant exemplifies love that never fails (13:1-5).

The scene described here in John 13 would have been shocking, unthinkable. Not only a respected teacher, their Rabbi, but the One they had come to know as the Son of God, humbling himself as a lowly servant. Washing feet—It was such a lowly act of service that there was a rabbinic law that no male Jewish servant should be required to do it, it was for foreigners, or women or children. Jesus had a way of turning the world’s expectations upside down. First the setting is outlined in 13:1… Passover, His hour had come, specifically the hour of His departure and return to the Father, He loved his own, to the end. (The NIV says, “He now showed them the full extent of 1His love” That certainly is true: greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends). This is an example of a servant’s heart, an act done by Jesus to teach his disciples, and it is motivated by love. He loved them to the end. By the way, if you know Jesus as Savior and Lord you can have that same assurance. He has showed His love for you, and His love for you will never fail. Paul said in Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” His love for you won’t fail! V.2 gives us a little more information about the moment, the devil already put treachery in Judas’ heart… The story was unfolding exactly as Jesus knew it would. Rather than thinking of himself He used the opportunity to teach His disciples, to prepare them a little more for continuing as a body, as a family, without his physical presence. Think about what v.3 is saying: Jesus knew the Father had put all things into his hands. He was in control, he had all authority. Judas was about to betray him and he doesn’t raise a hand to stop him. Jesus knew who he was and where he was from and here he was going. God the Son. And he does this most humble service for his disciples, including Judas! Jesus showed His love for us by taking the form of a humble servant. We show our love by our willingness to serve.

II. A LESSON ABOUT GRACE: Jesus came to provide salvation and the means to grow in holiness and to maintain fellowship with God (13:6-11).

This lesson on servanthood is only one step toward the greatest demonstration of the suffering servant, when Jesus willingly goes to the cross. Many years later Peter would write,

“You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

In the same epistle he wrote that “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Besides teaching his disciples a lesson about humility and serving one another, there is also a spiritual symbolism to this scene. In John 13:6-10 we read

6 And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter." 8 Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" [He felt himself unworthy] Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." [He didn’t think before talking, but wanted to relate his total commitment to Jesus] 10 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

(He knew Judas’ heart…) On a spiritual level, once we are cleansed, saved by grace through faith in Christ, we don’t need to get saved again. We don’t need another bath, but we do need to regularly have our feet washed. I think at a spiritual level this refers to the confession of sin that should characterize the life of a believer in Jesus. John said in his first letter,

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Confession and cleansing go together. We’ve been forgiven, once and for all, through faith in Christ. Why then does John talk about confession? The verbal tense reflects the idea of an ongoing, repeated action, something that is characteristic of the life of a believer. Because we are still in this fallen world and because we have a nature that is redeemed but still affected by sin, we still sin. When we do, we are convicted by the Spirit, and confess our sin. If you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior you’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb! You are clean. You have eternal life. But, our feet still get dirty as we walk through this world, and they need regular washing. Would I be pushing this too far to say that one aspect of washing each others’ feet, of loving as Jesus loved, is to be willing to forgive, as Christ has forgiven us? Paul said in Ephesians 4:2

“…with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,..”

If confession and cleansing are necessary for Christians to maintain fellowship with God, isn’t dealing with the things that would separate us from one another necessary? Confession, confrontation, forgiveness. Willingness to do these humbling acts will deepen our relationships with one another. Is it hard? At times. But remember that Jesus showed His love for us by taking the form of a humble servant. We show our love by our willingness to serve.

III. A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP THROUGH SERVANTHOOD (13:12-17).

The disciples were concerned about which of them was greatest, Jesus shows them that is the wrong question—rather they should be asking how they can follow the example of their master, by serving others. So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them,

"Do you know what I have done to you? 13 "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”

Jesus is using powerful imagery here. By now the disciples had an idea of who Jesus is, the Son of God. Yet we know from the other gospels, that once again, at the last supper, they were discussing which of them was greatest! Jesus got up from the table and served them in the most humble way imaginable. He, their teacher and Lord, washed their dusty feet. Then he tells them it was a lesson, as He served them, they should serve on another. Its not human nature! The mantra of fallen humans is to “Look out for number one!” It’s all about me! Remember the story about the novelist who met an old friend? After they had talked for two hours, the novelist said, “Now we’ve talked about me long enough-let’s talk about you! What did you think of my last novel?” I was interested to read that one of Theodore Roosevelt’s own children commented about his self-centeredness: “When he went to a wedding, he wanted to be the bride. When he went to a funeral, he was sorry he couldn’t be the corpse!”

"Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

We are to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.

What is God saying to me in this passage?

Jesus showed His love for us by taking the form of a humble servant. We show our love by our willingness to serve.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

Our human nature says look out for number one! Our natural tendency is to prioritize our own comfort. We all like to be loved and to receive love. Jesus says, “If you know these things…”, i.e. the lesson he has just taught about putting the needs of others before your own, about humbly serving in the name of Jesus, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” Shortly after WW2, Europe was in shambles, picking up the pieces. One of the saddest consequences of war then and now is the children who were orphaned. Early one chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to his barracks in London. As he turned a corner he saw a little boy, dressed in rags with his nose pressed against the window of a bakery. .Inside, the cook was working on a batch of pastries. The soldier stopped, and walked over to where the boy was standing looking in the window. As the hot pastries came out of the oven the boy was pressed against the glass. The soldier’s heart went out to the boy next to him. “Would you like some of those?” the soldier asked. “Oh yeah, … I would!” The American bought a dozen and came out and gave the bag to the boy. He turned to walk back to his jeep and felt a tug on his coat. The boy looked at his face and asked, “Mister… are you God?” It may be, that when we serve others, thinking no one is watching, expecting nothing in return, that we reflect Jesus most clearly. AMEN.