Who We Are In Jesus Christ – John 13:1-17
Who We Are In Jesus Christ – John 13:1-17
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 24, 2007 AM
It had been a tough three years. Walking from place to place along dusty roads, facing the ridicule and anger of those you were supposed to respect and look up to. Hiding sometimes from the mob in order to get enough sleep, a little food, or just some quite down time. Then there was the fact that you knew that a time would come when you would have to finished what was laid out before you. You realize it is your last few days on earth, walking with the people you cared about, and trying to get your message across to a lost generation that had completely rejected you and your message. Who would face such odds and continue in their life’s work under such circumstances?
Jesus did. He did because that was who He was. Knowing that His time had come to leave this world, He sets in motion a series of events that would change the world forever. But before He did this He lovingly does something quite special for His disciples, those who followed Him. Jesus leaves them an example of who He is and who they are to be as well. He leaves them the knowledge of who we all are in Jesus Christ when we become His disciples.
READ: John 13:1-17
This is perhaps one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Jesus had defined what it meant to be His disciple by telling those who sought to follow Him that they could not depend upon the necessities of life, that taking care of family matters took second place, and that the message of the gospel was far more important than anything else in life! (Luke 9:57-62) But here in these verses Jesus gives us a graphic example of who we are to be in Him. He related that…
I. Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His!
1. The inside of a dirty dish needs greater cleaning than the outside! The evening meal had been prepared and served. As those hurried around making sure everyone had a place to sit, the glasses were full, and the plates piled with food, Jesus stops and does something quite unexpected. “Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.” He takes a towel from His waste, a basin of water, and begins to wash each of the disciple’s feet! Even Judas Iscariot who had decided to betray Him, Jesus takes on the role of a servant! Could you wash the feet of someone whom you knew was betraying you? Jesus does. However, notice it is not Judas who objects, but Jesus’ right hand man – Peter. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Peter objects. Peter understands the concept of a Master and his students, and the student should serve the Master. Yet, Jesus tells him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” Peter bluntly responds, “You shall never wash my feet!” Calmly and efficiently Jesus answers, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” There it is: Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! Peter, like many today, missed the spiritual lesson. He is quick to please and he desperately wants to be a part of Jesus’ band of brothers, and he quickly responds, “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus responded by relating that, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.” If you have been cleansed by Christ, you are spiritually clean, but the daily devotion of personal cleansing is also needed to wash away any sin stain obtained in life. First, you are washed when you trust Jesus with your life, secondly you are washed daily as you come to Him in personal confession: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:9-10) Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His!
EXAMPLE: As a young boy I had a favorite shirt. It was a long-sleeved red plaid work shirt that most of the cowboys and farmers wore. I loved it. I wore it everywhere. To school, at home, to the store, and even to church – if I could get away with it. I remember quite well one Sunday sitting in the wooden pew as the Priest droned on about the love of Mary or something and my mother all of a sudden realizing that I had on, under my Sunday coat, my favorite shirt. “How dare you come out of the house dressed in that for church!” she vehemently whispered to me. Then the words we all feared came, “Just wait until I get you home, young man!” As we were headed out the front door of the church, with my mother grasping my arm tightly so I would not bolt, we came to the Priest. He spoke a few words to my father, to my mother, and then he looked down at me. “Well,” he said, “Lowell, is this your youngest?” My mother replied, “We are not too happy with him this morning. He decided to wear his old work shirt instead of his Sunday shirt,” she explained as her death grip dug into my arm. “Why, that’s a right fancy work shirt, he has there. It shows character and I can see that while it is well used it is well cleaned.” I cannot remember my mother’s reply, but she let go of me and later never said a word to me about the shirt. I figured that if it was clean it was good enough to use, and so does the Lord. The fact remains, that unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! However, if we are cleansed by Christ we are good enough to be used.
“Lessons are caught rather than taught in life,” someone once quipped. Jesus understood both concepts quite well and used both often. Here we find that Jesus was willing not just to tell a lesson but to teach it by doing it as well. Jesus teaches us that…
II. Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
1. As hard as it is for some of us to have our own filthy feet washed, it is tougher to touch the dirty toes of others! A lesson is not learned unless you are able to do it yourself on your own. When Jesus had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place at the table. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" He asked them. It is an easy thing for many in our world today to say they “love Jesus,” or that they “follow Jesus,” but what do these words mean when we see so many in our community lost and dying in their sin? Remember when Jesus asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” Jesus responds each time with “Feed My sheep.” Certainly Jesus wanted Peter to experience for himself the love, acceptance, and forgiveness He offered Peter after his betrayal, but Jesus also wanted Peter to remember that although he may call Him “’Teacher’ and 'Lord,'” Peter now needed to understand that his Lord and Teacher, had washed his feet, and that he should also wash “one another's feet!” It was the “feed my sheep” part of the spiritual equation Peter and all of us have to learn. Unless you are willing to be the servant of all, the sheep feeder and foot washer, you are not fit to follow the Master of all, Who “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8) Jesus plainly told Peter and the rest of the crew sitting there at that table, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Not to wash feet every Sunday, but to serve one another! Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
EXAMPLE: When guests were coming to visit my mother would set out the “good towels.” You know what the “good towels” are? They are for decoration only and no one is supposed to actually use the “good towels” for anything else but to look at and admire. That is, unless you are a guest. As a young boy I found this to be a hardship and well, kind of offensive. Wasn’t I good enough for the “good towels?” Shouldn’t I be allowed to use the “good towels?” What god is a “good towel” if it isn’t used real good!? I remember forgetting about the “good towel” rule and actually using one. I left my hard earned dirt on one of them. My siblings were horrified and hid, not wanting the wrath of Mom to come down on them. When my mother did discover that he “good towel” had been actually used, she immediately wanted to know by whom. I confessed, but I also asked, “What good is a towel if it is never used?” My mother just took the towel and never said a word to me. I guess she understood what Jesus was trying to teach here: Towels are to be used. In fact, we have no idea whatever happened to that “foot towel” of Jesus’. The next day it could have been used to wipe off the mud and grime of a camel’s behind as far as we know! Far too many Christians are like “good towels” never being used. They just kind of hang around hoping to be blessed but in reality never knowing the blessing of being used in the service of the Master. Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
Conclusion:
Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
—
NOTE: This article is copyrighted by Pastor Lee Hemen © 2008 and the property of Pastor Lee Hemen. You are welcome to copy it, email it, or use it but please if you copy it, email it, or use it you must do so in its entirety.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 24, 2007 AM
It had been a tough three years. Walking from place to place along dusty roads, facing the ridicule and anger of those you were supposed to respect and look up to. Hiding sometimes from the mob in order to get enough sleep, a little food, or just some quite down time. Then there was the fact that you knew that a time would come when you would have to finished what was laid out before you. You realize it is your last few days on earth, walking with the people you cared about, and trying to get your message across to a lost generation that had completely rejected you and your message. Who would face such odds and continue in their life’s work under such circumstances?
Jesus did. He did because that was who He was. Knowing that His time had come to leave this world, He sets in motion a series of events that would change the world forever. But before He did this He lovingly does something quite special for His disciples, those who followed Him. Jesus leaves them an example of who He is and who they are to be as well. He leaves them the knowledge of who we all are in Jesus Christ when we become His disciples.
READ: John 13:1-17
This is perhaps one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Jesus had defined what it meant to be His disciple by telling those who sought to follow Him that they could not depend upon the necessities of life, that taking care of family matters took second place, and that the message of the gospel was far more important than anything else in life! (Luke 9:57-62) But here in these verses Jesus gives us a graphic example of who we are to be in Him. He related that…
I. Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His!
1. The inside of a dirty dish needs greater cleaning than the outside! The evening meal had been prepared and served. As those hurried around making sure everyone had a place to sit, the glasses were full, and the plates piled with food, Jesus stops and does something quite unexpected. “Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.” He takes a towel from His waste, a basin of water, and begins to wash each of the disciple’s feet! Even Judas Iscariot who had decided to betray Him, Jesus takes on the role of a servant! Could you wash the feet of someone whom you knew was betraying you? Jesus does. However, notice it is not Judas who objects, but Jesus’ right hand man – Peter. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Peter objects. Peter understands the concept of a Master and his students, and the student should serve the Master. Yet, Jesus tells him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” Peter bluntly responds, “You shall never wash my feet!” Calmly and efficiently Jesus answers, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” There it is: Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! Peter, like many today, missed the spiritual lesson. He is quick to please and he desperately wants to be a part of Jesus’ band of brothers, and he quickly responds, “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus responded by relating that, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.” If you have been cleansed by Christ, you are spiritually clean, but the daily devotion of personal cleansing is also needed to wash away any sin stain obtained in life. First, you are washed when you trust Jesus with your life, secondly you are washed daily as you come to Him in personal confession: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:9-10) Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His!
EXAMPLE: As a young boy I had a favorite shirt. It was a long-sleeved red plaid work shirt that most of the cowboys and farmers wore. I loved it. I wore it everywhere. To school, at home, to the store, and even to church – if I could get away with it. I remember quite well one Sunday sitting in the wooden pew as the Priest droned on about the love of Mary or something and my mother all of a sudden realizing that I had on, under my Sunday coat, my favorite shirt. “How dare you come out of the house dressed in that for church!” she vehemently whispered to me. Then the words we all feared came, “Just wait until I get you home, young man!” As we were headed out the front door of the church, with my mother grasping my arm tightly so I would not bolt, we came to the Priest. He spoke a few words to my father, to my mother, and then he looked down at me. “Well,” he said, “Lowell, is this your youngest?” My mother replied, “We are not too happy with him this morning. He decided to wear his old work shirt instead of his Sunday shirt,” she explained as her death grip dug into my arm. “Why, that’s a right fancy work shirt, he has there. It shows character and I can see that while it is well used it is well cleaned.” I cannot remember my mother’s reply, but she let go of me and later never said a word to me about the shirt. I figured that if it was clean it was good enough to use, and so does the Lord. The fact remains, that unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! However, if we are cleansed by Christ we are good enough to be used.
“Lessons are caught rather than taught in life,” someone once quipped. Jesus understood both concepts quite well and used both often. Here we find that Jesus was willing not just to tell a lesson but to teach it by doing it as well. Jesus teaches us that…
II. Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
1. As hard as it is for some of us to have our own filthy feet washed, it is tougher to touch the dirty toes of others! A lesson is not learned unless you are able to do it yourself on your own. When Jesus had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place at the table. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" He asked them. It is an easy thing for many in our world today to say they “love Jesus,” or that they “follow Jesus,” but what do these words mean when we see so many in our community lost and dying in their sin? Remember when Jesus asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” Jesus responds each time with “Feed My sheep.” Certainly Jesus wanted Peter to experience for himself the love, acceptance, and forgiveness He offered Peter after his betrayal, but Jesus also wanted Peter to remember that although he may call Him “’Teacher’ and 'Lord,'” Peter now needed to understand that his Lord and Teacher, had washed his feet, and that he should also wash “one another's feet!” It was the “feed my sheep” part of the spiritual equation Peter and all of us have to learn. Unless you are willing to be the servant of all, the sheep feeder and foot washer, you are not fit to follow the Master of all, Who “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8) Jesus plainly told Peter and the rest of the crew sitting there at that table, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Not to wash feet every Sunday, but to serve one another! Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
EXAMPLE: When guests were coming to visit my mother would set out the “good towels.” You know what the “good towels” are? They are for decoration only and no one is supposed to actually use the “good towels” for anything else but to look at and admire. That is, unless you are a guest. As a young boy I found this to be a hardship and well, kind of offensive. Wasn’t I good enough for the “good towels?” Shouldn’t I be allowed to use the “good towels?” What god is a “good towel” if it isn’t used real good!? I remember forgetting about the “good towel” rule and actually using one. I left my hard earned dirt on one of them. My siblings were horrified and hid, not wanting the wrath of Mom to come down on them. When my mother did discover that he “good towel” had been actually used, she immediately wanted to know by whom. I confessed, but I also asked, “What good is a towel if it is never used?” My mother just took the towel and never said a word to me. I guess she understood what Jesus was trying to teach here: Towels are to be used. In fact, we have no idea whatever happened to that “foot towel” of Jesus’. The next day it could have been used to wipe off the mud and grime of a camel’s behind as far as we know! Far too many Christians are like “good towels” never being used. They just kind of hang around hoping to be blessed but in reality never knowing the blessing of being used in the service of the Master. Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
Conclusion:
Unless Jesus is allowed to wash you, you cannot be one of His! Unless you are willing to stoop down and wash others, you cannot be one of His!
—
NOTE: This article is copyrighted by Pastor Lee Hemen © 2008 and the property of Pastor Lee Hemen. You are welcome to copy it, email it, or use it but please if you copy it, email it, or use it you must do so in its entirety.
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