Markham Baptist Church Sermon

Preached in Markham Baptist Church, October 31, 2004

This is an amazing incident. I have read it hundreds of times and it continues to move me to awe and wonder of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I don’t know about you but I find verses 3,4, and 5 the most awesome. "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

Look at what that says! Verse 3, “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power.” This speaks of our Lord’s supremacy. The prophet Isaiah prophesied it: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

And Jesus knows this. There is no one above Him, there is no power that He has to answer to, no board to report to, no King that He needs to bow down to - He is the King of Kings.

He also knows that “He had come from God”. This speaks of the authority of Jesus. He had been sent from God. He took His orders from God the Father and He and the Father are one. He has been sent from God there for this is no authority greater than His. No power that is stronger than His. He has been sent from God, all authority belongs to Him.

And, says the text, “He knows he is returning to God”. This speaks of victory. He knows that Satan will not win. He knows that He will sit at God’s right hand and be the first born from the dead.

So Jesus has all supremacy, all authority, and certain victory. This does not mean that Jesus was unsure about all of this up to this time and all of a sudden a light bulb of understanding went on in His head. No - read John 10 and you will see that Jesus has a firm grasp of the power that is His, where He came from and His ability to win the lost.

But look at the text. Here is the one with all supremacy, all authority, all victory and then read verse 4, “so”. That’ a little word which means “as a result of”, “because of this”. And what do you expect to follow this? Anyone I know in this world who has supremacy, authority and victory calls for his butler to feed him, his chauffeur to drive him, his employees to serve him.

But not Jesus. And this is the wonder of it all. “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. "

Now we have to understand that washing feet was a slave's job. All of the ancient sources show that foot washing was a degrading and lowly task. In some Jewish sources we see the task of foot washing described as so menial that not even Jewish slaves were allowed to practice it, it was reserved for Gentile slaves. And never, never do we find those with a higher status washing the feet of those beneath of a lower status.

So the one who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) the one through whom all things were created so that not only are all things created by Him but they are created for Him (Colossians 1:16), the one who is “before all things and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17) does the work of a slave and serves His disciples. The wonder of it all!

His disciples! I mean that only takes our wonder only further. Some of His disciples came into that room, you may remember, arguing who would be first in the Kingdom of God. Another came into that room, says our text (verse 2), intent on betraying Him. Every one of them came into that room not understanding who Jesus was or what He was about. Yet He stoops down and washes their feet.

O, the wonder of it, that our Lord would serve anyone but that He would serve such a group that is slow of faith, weak in their devotion, rebellious in heart, fickle in their loyalty, self-seeking! But our Lord washes the feet of each of them. Not one of them is left out.

And then, as if that is not enough, thinking that my wonder and awe could not go deeper, I am made to think of how He has served me. For in a very real sense Jesus stepped out of all the beauty of heaven, took of all His kingly robes and made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness, He served me. He washed me. As He went to the cross and died for me, for you. And even now, having been cleansed of my sin, having been redeemed out of the household of sin and put into the family of God, my feet still get dirty with the things of this world. And while I don’t need a bath, for I have been forgiven and cleansed of my sin. I still have sins and I still need to come to my Savior to be cleansed of the filth I fall into, the sins I commit, the silly sinful things I say, and Jesus once again wraps the towel around His waist and stoops down to cleanse me of my failures, of my sins. He still serves this way. And that astounds me!

But there is not only the feeling of wonder, isn’t there a motivation here to serve? So we hear Jesus say in verse 14, “Now that I your Lord and Savior have washed your feet you also should wash one another’s feet.”

And we say, “Yes! Yes!” That’s it, that’s the motivation to serve. That’s what drives us. It is because we have been served by the King of Kings that we serve others. It is because we have been served by Jesus Christ even when we did not deserve it that we are able to serve those whom we think do not deserve it.

And isn’t that one of our greatest problems when it comes to service? It is easy to serve those who are able to pay us back. It is easy to serve the lovely and the popular. It is easy to serve when we will be recognized and congratulated but to serve the ungrateful, those we deem sinful, those we don’t agree with, those who hurt us, the difficult and the hard, well, that’s different. It’s difficult to serve and sometimes down right impossible.

Unless… unless I realize that I am sinful and ungrateful and disagreeable and difficult and hard and yet …and yet the King of kings has served me, has served you. Then I am able to serve others. As I have done for YOU, so you also. That’s the motivation.

And that’s the depth of His love, isn’t it? We read in verse one, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

The NRSV says “he loved them to the end.” It means He loves right through. In the midst of it all, Jesus loves. The RSV translates it beautifully and says that “he loved them to the uttermost”. And that’s what is being expressed here. That’s what is being demonstrated here. He loved to the uttermost - in spite of their selfishness, and pride and rebellion, He loved them. O, the wonder of it all!

It’s a truth which Paul writes about when he says, “Christ’s love compels me.” Yes! It is not my love for Christ, fickle, wavering, doubting love of mine. No - it is not that love that compels us, is Christ’s love for us that compels us, compels me to serve.

And isn’t this the key to doing the most menial, the lowliest act of service there is? To know that I am loved by Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the great King of the universe. I am loved by Him, so am I not able then to do the hardest, lowliest act of service because I realize that I am not defined by what I do but by who I am. A child of God, deeply loved who has been washed of all his sins, and who has a Saviour who continually comes to me to cleanse me of my sins.

And does this not also give us power to endure in service during difficult times? We are serving the King who loves us and cares for us so we are able to continue no matter what the situation.

Juan Carlos Ortiz tells of a time when he was a very young man preaching far in the mountains of his home country of Argentina. Preaching the gospel at the time was very dangerous at the time, the government being a dictatorship was against it, it was even more dangerous in the mountains because there they could kill you and no one would notice it. And so he was preaching the gospel and he was arrested by the police. So, he says, “I was put in jail, then I was released. So I went and preached again, and they put me in jail again and I was released and so I went and preached again.”

Finally the chief of police got very mad at this young preacher Juan Carlos and he said,

“Don’t you know that we can put in jail for a whole week?”

Juan Carlos replied, ‘Wonderful! Will you feed me for free?”

The chief of police said, “Don’t you know we can hold you a whole month!”

“Better still,” Juan Carlos said, “so that I can preach to you and to all the other policemen and all the other in mates as well as the rest.”

The chief thought for a moment and asked, “And what would happen if I release you?”

“I’ll keep on preaching.”

The chief then said, “What can I do against you?” Juan Carlos said, “That’s your problem. I have no problem. In or out it is the same thing.” ¹

Because Christ’s love compels us! Let hardship come, let us be called to wash stinking feet, do the hardest most menial tasks, let us be thrown in jail for our convictions. It is not the easiness of the task, it is not the pleasantness of the circumstances that compels us - it is Christ’s love. “As I have done for you …” You see, that’s the secret to service.

So we have the wonder of it. Jesus came to serve, and He continues to serve you and me even today, stopping to wash these sins away from our dirty soiled souls.

And there is the motivation. As He as served us, as He has loved us so we are able to serve and keep on serving, because we are under Him.

But there is this also, and that is the model for service. Jesus says in verse 15 of our text, “I have set an example for you to follow that you should do as I have done for you.”

What would washing another’s feet look like today? What would it mean for us to wash another’s feet? Self sacrificing? Certainly. Humble? Definitely. But practically speaking, I have found the writing of Richard Foster to be helpful who lists a number of different types of service that we are called to in response to Christ washing our feet. ²

There is the service of listening and bearing another’s burden. Rev. David Bartlett tells of when he was studying in Boston he would get together regularly with a group of Christian friends. One young woman who was part of the group was going through a horrible painful divorce and to help her cope she would go swimming every Saturday. It helped with the stress of the event. And one day the woman said to the group of friends, “You know I get more support and help from my swim club than I do from my church. I don’t have to pretend, I speak the truth, I share my loss, they listen, they understand.” Good the swim club, not so good for her church.³

If washing one another’s feet means anything, it means that we give permission to one another to be real, to stop being fakes. We don’t want to be the one place where we don’t talk about what really matters, the strain of the job, the difficulty of parenting, the stress of the marriage, the fear of failure. So we wash each other’s feet in service, listening compassionately,

And coming along side one another to bear the burden that life can bring. That’s service.

But service, is more than just listening, as important as that is. There is the service of small things. This is serving another by driving them to the hospital or the grocery store when they have no car. It is offering to babysit a couple’s children for free so they can have a much needed date night. It is going to a widow’s home and raking the leaves one Saturday afternoon. We often look for the big acts of service and forget that it is the small things that have the far-reaching consequences.

There is the service of hospitality. There is a desperate need today for homes that can be open to one another. I am shocked to hear of Christians who do not practice hospitality. Surely there must be time in the week or month or even year when you are able to offer hospitality to another? Don’t make it too complicated, just make it a time when you invite people over and they can go home feeling welcome and affirmed as a person.

There is the service of hiddenness. This is serving another without letting the person know it was you who served them. It is making a meal for your neighbor and taking it over to their home, placing it on the step, ringing the doorbell and running as fast you can. It does wonders for your spiritual life, it brings great joy, puts to death self-seeking and brings joy and celebration to the people who receive it.

My friends, our Lord came to serve, not to be served. He has served us by going to the cross for us. He continues to serve us by washing away the stains of daily sins from our lives. So we also. So we also are enabled to serve others as He has called us.

ENDNOTES:

1. Juan Carlos Ortiz in an untitled sermon.

2. Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1978), p.118-122

3. Rev. Dr. David L Bartlett, in a sermon entitled, “Christ’s Sheep”. Preached in Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 8.07.2001