Sunday Morning Bible Study

September 26, 2010

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision

We are in the final week of Jesus’ life.

The week began with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we call that day “Palm Sunday”.

Matthew records many of the things that Jesus taught on in the Temple during the first part of the week.

We now zoom all the way up to Thursday night, the night before Jesus dies, the night of the Last Supper, the night that Jesus would be arrested.  Jesus and the disciples are in the “Upper Room”.

Feet Washing

Ancient life was pretty dirty.

There were no socks and shoes in ancient days, only open toed sandals.

There were no clean sidewalks in ancient days, just dirty streets.

There weren’t many sewers in ancient days and sometimes the streets of a city were filthy in ways we don’t want to think about.

If you walked the streets of Jerusalem, you were going to get your feet dirty.

A common custom developed in those days to express proper hospitality was to have a servant or perhaps the family’s youngest child serve to wash the feet of the guests.

Feet washing was a filthy thing.  Feet washing was a servant’s job.

(read vs. 1-5)

13:1-11 Feet Washing

:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

:1 should depart – metabaino – to pass over from one place to another, to remove, depart

:1 loved – agapao – to love, to feel and exhibit esteem and goodwill to a person, to prize and delight in a thing.

:1 His hour had come

We’ve seen a lot of times in the gospel of John that Jesus’ “hour” had not yet come.  The “hour” speaks of the time of His death.

Jesus knows what time it is.  He is facing His most difficult time, what Churchill would say was His “finest hour”.

His “hour” would be connected to the Passover, a Jewish feast that remembered how God saved the nation through the blood of the lamb.

Lesson

Serving others when it’s hard

I don’t know what you’d do if you knew the worst time of your life was going to happen tomorrow.

I’d be packing the car and heading for the hills.

Instead, Jesus is loving on His disciples and getting ready for the storm.

Jesus sets an example for us – to serve others even when life gets hard.

After David killed Goliath, his career really took off as a Philistine killer.  His fame as a giant killer brought him so much fame, it got him into trouble with his boss, King Saul.  And a period of David’s life began as a man on the run, an ancient “fugitive”.

It was during that time as a fugitive that David became aware of an opportunity for a “side job”.

(1 Sa 23:1–5 NKJV) —1 Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.” 3 But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” 5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

David’s men thought they were already in enough trouble.  They felt that David didn’t need to do anything more.

David wanted to serve God.  David didn’t stop just because things got hard.

Illustration:

Years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger of the Menninger Clinic was asked, “If someone felt a nervous breakdown coming on, what would you suggest that he do?”

“If you feel a nervous breakdown coming on, I would urge you to find somebody else with a problem—a serious one—and get involved with that individual, helping him solve his problem.” 

Helping another person solve his problem, affects your problem.  You’re no longer thinking internally.  You’re no longer letting things gnaw at your stomach.  You’re no longer getting disturbed about yourself because you’re not thinking about yourself. You’re thinking about others.

Don’t misunderstand me.  Sometimes life is so hard that you cannot do anything.

But sometimes we quit a bit too early.

For some of us, perhaps we need to think about taking our eyes off our situation, go out and look for someone in need, and get to work!

:2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,

:2 supper – deipnon – supper, especially a formal meal usually held at the evening,

This the “last supper”.

:2 supper being ended – a better translation, “and supper was …” or “and while supper was being …”.  This is taking place during supper, not after it.

:2 put – ballo – to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls; to put into, insert

This is the same word used to describe Jesus pouring water into the basin (vs. 5).

At this point, Satan has already poured the idea of betrayal into the heart of Judas.

:2 to betray – paradidomi – to give into the hands (of another); to deliver up treacherously; by betrayal to cause one to be taken

:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,

:3 knowing – eido – to see; to perceive; to see with the mind’s eye, signifies a clear and purely mental perception

:3 all things into His hands –

Jesus knows that the Father has put the control of the airplane into His hands.  Jesus is the one sitting in the captain’s chair in the cockpit.

He’s not going to die because someone is forcing Him to die.  He is going to choose to give up His life.

:3 He had come from God and was going to God

Jesus knew where He was from and where He was going.

He is going to be able to endure through the next 24 hours because He is aware of who He is and God’s calling on His life.

I’ve told young pastors that are heading out to start their first church that they need to be sure of God’s call on their lives.

As you step out to serve God, you will find opposition.  Life will get difficult.

Knowing that God has called you will keep you going.

:4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

:4 laid aside His garments – not all His clothes, just the outer garments.

:4 towel – lention – a linen cloth, towel; of the towel or apron with which servants put on when about to work

:4 girded Himself – diazonnumi – to bind or gird all around; to gird one’s self with a thing, gird a thing around one’s self

Lesson

Humility

One of the things you see being demonstrated by Jesus is the attitude of humility.  He’s painting a picture of what humility looks like.

Paul painted a parallel picture of the humility of Jesus in writing to the Philippians, instructing them in how to get along with each other and preserve the unity of the church.

(Php 2:3–11 NKJV) —3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

:7 made Himself of no reputation – kenoo – to empty, make empty

Theologians like to discuss the event they call the “kenosis”.  What does it mean that He made Himself of no reputation or “emptied Himself”?

We believe that this means that He laid aside His rights and privileges of deity, His place in heaven.  In a sense, He laid aside His “glory”.

Jesus never ceased being God. 

He laid aside His rights, He covered up His glory.

It’s like Jesus taking off His garments and putting on a simple servant’s towel.

Jesus laid aside His garments of heaven, and clothed Himself in simple humanity.

Illustration:

When I was a young Christian, one of the bands I used to listen to was called DeGarmo and Key.  Dana Key (who died last June of a blood clot) wrote:

As a young Christian, I thought that our group’s evangelism efforts should focus on celebrities. My theory was that the poster people could influence more folks for Christ than us ordinary-Joe types. Occasionally I would hear of a celebrity conversion, but I was usually disappointed that not many seemed to follow. That taught me an important lesson: God doesn’t build His kingdom on the fragile backs of star power. Glitz doesn’t go very far with the Lord, and Isaiah tells us why: “This is the one I esteem: He who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

Dana Key of Degarmo and Key, By Divine Design (Nashville, 1995), p. 97.

God just uses ordinary people who are willing to learn the lesson of humble servanthood.

(Mk 10:44 NKJV) And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

Notice the goal for Paul teaching on the “kenosis”.

He’s teaching the church about how to get along with each other.

The key to getting along with each other is humility.

There is no greater example than the humility of Jesus, laying aside all His rights and privileges, and lowering Himself to the level of not only a servant, but to the level of dying.

Why Jesus?

Why did Jesus have to be the one to wash the disciples’ feet?  It’s simple - apparently no one else did.

Mark tells us that they were too busy arguing over who was the greatest.  The last thing anyone of them would do was wash feet.

Jesus washed their feet.

We’re too busy looking out for ourselves…

Play “Marriage – sharing the car” clip.

We need to learn what “humility” is all about.

:5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

:5 poured – ballo – to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls; to pour; to put into

:5 basin – nipter – a vessel for washing the hands and the feet, a basin

:5 to wash – nipto – to wash

:6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

Jesus is taking the role of a servant to Peter.  Peter knows that’s just not right.

:7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

:7 you do not understand

Just like us. We don’t always understand what the Lord is doing.  Not yet.

We just need to stay teachable.

(Jn 14:26 NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

:8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

:8 You shall never wash my feet

It’s pretty strong in the Greek:  “No, You shall not wash my feet unto eternity!!”

:9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

Peter does not want to live apart from Jesus.  If Peter must be washed, then he wants a full bath.

:10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

:10 clean – katharos – clean, pure; blameless, innocent

:10 is bathed – louo – to bathe, wash

:10 wash – nipto – to cleanse (especially the hands or the feet or the face)

Lesson

Bathing vs. washing

What is Jesus saying here?

Keep in mind that there are two different words used here in the Greek.

One word speaks of a full immersion bath (louo), the other speaks of just washing certain body parts like the hands or feet (nipto)

In those days, a person would normally take a full bath (or miqvah) before attending a special feast, like the Passover.

But on the walk over to the Upper Room, a person’s feet would get kind of dusty and dirty.

This is why people washed their feet when visiting a house.

Jesus is saying, “The guy who has already had his full Saturday night bath is already clean and only needs to have his feet washed”.

There is the “full” cleansing that comes when a person comes to believe in Jesus.

(2 Co 5:17 NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

This is the “bath” (louo), the “miqvah”.

Yet in our day to day lives, we continue to stumble, we get ourselves dirty just on the way to church.

You don’t need to get “saved” every time you stumble.  You just need to wash your hands or your feet.

(1 Jn 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

:8  If I do not wash you … no part

Lesson

Cleansing and closeness

Jesus told Peter that if Peter did not allow Jesus to “wash” Peter’s feet, then Jesus would have no part of Peter.

Jesus was talking about the “feet washing”, not the bath.

Jesus is saying that if you want to have close communion with Him, if you want to be in fellowship with Him, you not only need a bath, but you need to keep your feet clean.

James wrote:

(Jas 1:27 NKJV) Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

It is foolish to think that you are going to get saved and never ever sin again.

We must indeed try to stay away from sin.

But when we sin, we need to learn to be washed.

Some of that cleansing comes when we confess our sins to God. (1Jo. 1:9)

Some of that cleansing comes in how we wash one another’s feet by confessing our sins to one another.

(Jas 5:16 NKJV) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Sometimes victory over sin doesn’t come until we open up and confess to another person that we have a problem, that we need help.

If you want to be close to Jesus, you need to keep your feet clean.

:11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

Jesus already knew that Judas would soon betray Him.

13:12-17  The Lesson

:12 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?

:12 sat down – anapipto – to lie back, lie down; to recline at a table, to sit back

:12 I have done – perfect tense

:13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

:13 Teacher – Jesus is the one who has been teaching them for the last three years.

:13 Lord – kurios – Jesus is their “Lord”, their “Master”.

:13 well – kalos – beautifully, finely, excellently, well

:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

:14 you ought – opheilo – to owe; be in debt for

We “owe” this to one another.

It’s not just that serving one another is a nice thing to do.

We have a debt that needs to be paid.

It’s because of what Jesus has done for us, that we’ve incurred a debt.

We pay off that debt in how we serve one another.

It’s almost as if Jesus has bought you a brand new car and given it to you.  You say to the Lord, “Lord, how can I ever pay for this?”  And the Lord says, “Just serve people, that’s My payment”.

He’s done more than bought a car for us.  He laid down His life as a sacrifice to pay for our sins.

How could we ever repay Him?

We serve Him by serving others.

:15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

:15 example – hupodeigma –  an example for imitation

It’s not the actual thing, it’s something we should imitate.

Some churches have actually made it a part of their church service to wash each other’s feet.

Up to 1731 the Lord High Almoner in England washed the feet of poor saints on Thursday before Easter, a custom that arose in the fourth century, and one still practised by the Pope of Rome. (RWP)

That’s actually a cool thing to do.  Your feet feel great.  But I have to tell you that the people that attend those services show up with the neatest, cleanest feet you’ve ever seen.

It’s not the actual literal feet washing that’s the issue.

Feet washing is just the picture, the illustration of what we are to do for each other.

:16 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.

:16 Most assuredly – the Greek is amen, amen, or “this is really important – this is really true”

:16 master – kurios – the same word translated “Lord” in verse 13.

Jesus is our Master and we are His servants.

He is the one who “sends” us, and we are the ones that are sent.

If Jesus (Master, Sender) is humble and washes feet, so must we.

:17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

:17 blessed – makarios –blessed, happy

Lesson

Happiness

The world teaches us that “happiness” comes when I look out for number 1.

Jesus hints that happiness comes when I get concerned about others.

True happiness or blessing doesn’t come from just “knowing” these things, it comes from doing them.

1.  Serving

Learning the path of humility and learning to do what is expected of a servant – to serve and not be served.

F. B. Meyer once said:  “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other; and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them.  I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other.  It is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower; that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts.”

Is there something God has been nudging you to do?  A way to serve Him?

2. Cleansing

It means getting involved in the lives of other people.  Maybe having a nice thing to say every once in a while.

Play “Validation” clip

It means getting involved with people who have gotten their feet dirty.

It means showing them the way to cleansing, confession and forgiveness.

It means picking up a brother who has stumbled and help him back to his feet.

Is there a person you’ve been reluctant to reach out to because you find their feet filthy and stinky?

These are the ingredients to happiness.  Think about these things as you watch …

Play “Feet Washing” clip.