Jesus Washes Feet

John 13:1-17

 

Intimate Moments w/ Jesus – Upper Room Discourse

This passage takes us into the intimate thoughts of Jesus just before the crucifixion. Some have called this the holy of holies of Scripture. That is, if you think of Scripture as a temple, then this is the sanctuary, in which you come into the very presence of God himself.

 

A)This passage allows us to enter into the thinking and emotions of Jesus just before his own crucifixion.

1)     Last Words

 

B) The section begins however w/ a Parable in action – rather than a message it begins w/ a DEED

1)     This is the style of Jesus – Before he TEACHES / He touches { read v. 1-5

 

C) Note v. 1 again: Now this is amazing to me –

Jesus Knowing his hour was come that he should depart

 

Jesus Knowing that this was it – Tomorrow die

What does he do? –

A)Me I am ordering a Steak Dinner / back Rub / Time to be Pampered – Not Jesus – He is seeking to Serve

 

B) He is teaching by way of Example –  So He girds himself & begins to wash the Disciples feet

1)     Rough group – But notice what it says in v.1 – He loved them to the end – to the uttermost

 

C) In other words, He loved them with with no limit — even though He was aware of their past faltering . . .

‘Let’s call down fire from heaven and kill everyone who doesn’t respond to You,’ said James and John (Luke 9:54).  Guilty of having a Judgmental Spirit

 

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ scoffed Nathanael skeptically (John 1:46).

Doubting Spirit

 

He was also aware of their future failings . . .

 

‘Satan desires to sift you like wheat, Peter,’ He would say. ‘But I have prayed for you, and when you come through, strengthen the brothers,’ (Luke 22:31-32).  Flakiness & Fickleness

 

 

He was also aware of their present flaws . . .

 

A)As they sat together in the Upper Room, Luke tells us they were arguing about who was going to be the greatest

 

B) No one was willing to assume the role of a Servant to wash feet !!!! -

1) Jesus saw His disciples not only in their present vulnerabilities, but also in their eventual victory — and He loved them to the uttermost.

 

C) Jesus looks in this room tonight – Sees – the Judgmental Spirits – Doubting Spirits

Flaky & Fickle

1) Prideful & Lacking – Humility

 

Doesn’t look w/ a heart of Disgust – what am I going to do with these people

A) He looks w/ Love & Compassion in His eyes at hearts that need to be washed

 

B) Now what Jesus did here this night was really a visible expression of what his whole- Ministry was about

 

v.4 He Rose from Supper - Just as Jesus rose from the Last Supper,

He rose, in eternity past, from the banquet which He enjoyed with the Father and Spirit continually to willingly take upon Himself the form of a Man.

 

He laid aside his garments - Just as Jesus laid aside His earthly garments,

Philippians 2 says He laid aside His garments of glory to come and dwell among us.

 

C) Heavy when you think about it that Jesus the 2nd person of the Trinity – became a man –

1)     As a Man made himself dependant upon his Father

 

He took a towel & girded Himself

A)Just as Jesus wrapped Himself in a towel, so He wrapped His divinity in human flesh.

 

B) Still God, totally God, always God — yet wrapped in the towel of humanity.

One commentator points out that the word ‘towel’ used here refers to a linen towel.

C) Linen speaking of righteousness, the picture is perfect. 1) Jesus wraps Himself in the righteous towel of human flesh, for He was like us — yet without sin

 

v.5 After that He poured water into a Basin

A)Water speaks of the Word. Jn 15:3  ‘You are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you,’

 

B)We are washed, says Paul, by the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26).

 

C) So, wrapped in the towel of human frailty, Jesus pours out His Word to us.

1)     He tells us Who God is. He tells us how to live. He becomes  flesh, and dwells among us.

 

Now it was the common Practice in that Culture for a Servant to wash the feet of the guest – No Servant

A)So what does Jesus do – He assumes the Role

 

B) He seeks to Serve { Didn’t come to be served but to Serve

Role of the Minister – Under Rower – Servant

 

C) You who espire to Ministry: Serve – You seek to wash peoples Feet – { Lower Yourself

 

D) Servant? How do you react / respond when People treat you like a Servant – Complain

1)     Peter’s Reaction V. 6-8a 

Now as I mentioned before the washing of feet is a Slaves Job /

A)Peter couldn’t understand why Jesus would do this

 

B) Peter is offended by Jesus' actions, because he knew that if he were in the same place,

1) if he were an instructor, a teacher, and a Lord, he would never consider stooping to wash someone's feet.

 

C) This would be beneath him. So Peter is offended. This is a rebuke to his own self-sufficiency.

D) But in this incident of Peter's refusal to be washed by Jesus you have a remarkable picture of the sinful pride of human beings who reject the cleansing ministry of Jesus.

One of the remarkable things about the gospel is that it is always bringing us down to the lowest point.

A)We see our Need - We must stand in utter humiliation in order for God to minister to us.

 

B) All human pride must be brought low before him, before we can receive what God wants to give us from his hand.

1)     And that is where we struggle, isn't it?

 

C) We don't like that. We don't like to be delivered to a place where we ourselves have nothing to offer.

1)     We want to add something.

 

D) God resist the Proud but gives Grace to the Humble

 

John 13:8  Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."

John 13:9-11

9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!"  [BATH] 10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean;

 

Now in those words he gives us a beautiful explanation of the process of salvation.

 A)It begins with a bath. That initial coming to Christ, in total bankruptcy/ 

 

B) Coming without any righteousness our own to offer, and allowing him to cleanse us,

1)     That is like a bath in which we are washed all over, completely, from head to foot.

 

C) If you are here tonight – Dirty in Your Sin / Cleansing is Available – Come to Christ

 

But after a person had bathed – walked streets – dirty feet – { Bare foot – Needed their feet washed

A)So when you arrived as a guest, a servant would wash your feet. But you would not need to repeat the bath.

 

B) Same is true for us – Saved Cleansed – but we live in Constant contact w/ the world – Need Feet washed

1)     Need to be Cleansed –

 

C) This speaks of communion with Jesus on a daily basis, for if I walk in pollution and don’t allow cleansing to take place in my life,

1) I will experience a separation from Him.

 

(Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,

 A) It’s not about losing salvation — it’s about losing intimacy.

 

B) So I come to the Lord – with the areas that have been dirtied – I confess my sin – He is faithful & just to Forgive

 

C) Is it really Necessary to confess my Sin – He Knows

1)     Confession does 3 things - 

 

1st Appreciation for the Cross { He died for this

 

2nd Realization of Grace – See if I don’t confess my sins I can start to think that the Blessings  that are happening to me are because I am such a great guy

 

So Confession of my sin – puts me in my place & reminds me that it is only because of his mercies I am not consumed

 

3rd Liberation from the enemy: Unconfessed sin in any area opens the door for the enemy to build a Stronghold

A)That sin becomes an addiction / a habit / a stronghold of the enemy in my life – all because I wouldn’t confess

 

B) So it is not a Bath that we need it is just – Cleansing – that comes thru Confession – Lord I sin / Lord my Attitude was wrong

 

C) If I am not allowing Jesus to Cleanse me – Have no part w/ Him – Sin breaks Fellowship –

 

v.12-17

Jesus saying – I want you to wash one another

A)Seeking to Serve – rather than be served

 

B) Coming – I hope I can something out of this –I hope I can give something

 

Happy Life ? Blessed or happy are you if you do these things

 

Dr. H. A. Ironside pointed out, , when you go to another to wash his feet, or when another comes to you to wash your feet, that concern be exercised as to the temperature of the water!

 

Some go with boiling hot water. They are so angry, so upset, so distracted by what has happened, and so mad about it, that they come to the other person and say, "Here, stick your feet in here!"

Nobody wants to have his feet washed with boiling hot water.

 

Some go to the other extreme and come with ice water. They are so righteously holier-than-thou, so remote from this whole dirty proposition, so above it all.

They come with this frigid, freezing water and they want to wash your feet. Nobody will allow it under those conditions.

 

And some, unfortunately, try to do it without water at all! They come and dry clean your feet; they scrape them free of their dirt.

 

Have you ever had anyone do that to you? They come and give you a piece of their mind, just tear into you. What they say may be true, but there is no water of love at all, nothing to wash it gently away, only a rigid insistence upon scraping away the dirt and the skin along with it.

 

But our Lord insists that we wash one another's feet in love. This is the manifestation that he loved his disciples, and he loved them to the end.

 

Tonight perhaps you are here- Not Saved – Need a Bath

A)Salvation

 

B) Are Saved- Dirty – Pride / Sin / Attitude – Jesus is ready to wash your feet tonight –CONFESS

1)    Worship & wait on the Lord tell Him –

 

C) But Jesus also told us to wash one another’s feet – we want to give opportunity tonight for that

1)    Figurative sense

 

Washing Feet Requires 3 things:

1st Humility – Humble ourselves – Pride

 

2nd Servants Heart – I want to bless someone

 

3rd Water : 

 

Humble Heart Starts w/ You

 

Great Blessing is Prayer

 

Water: Word -