Servanthood

19 July 2009
SPEAKER: Chris Teoh
TEXT: John 13:1-17

Two days before His crucifixion, just before starting to eat His last Passover meal with the 12 disciples, Jesus "now showed them the full extent of his love", and He did this by getting up from the meal, and beginning to wash His disciples' feet one after another. The disciples must have been stunned into silence by this unexpected and startling act of servanthood and lowliness by One whom they called "Teacher" and "Lord". It was only Peter when it came to his turn who found voice to ask, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" and object, "No...you shall never wash my feet."

Then, "(w)hen he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Jesus could do this lowly act of a servant to His disciples because He was secure in His relationship with His Father: He knew the Father's love for Him and He knew who He was, and as such He was able to love all His disciples, even the one who was going to betray Him. "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..."

If we are to follow Jesus' example,to serve others in humility, we need to have that same strong relationship with our Father God and to be secure and confident in His love and wisdom.

Jesus "took off his outer clothing" in order to bend down to wash the feet of His disciples: it is a picture of Jesus stripping of Himself and laying aside His royal garments and rights to become a man and a servant even to die a criminal's death. As Paul put it in Philippians 2:

Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but 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!


We too need to strip ourselves, putting aside our rights and wants, to die to self, in order to serve and bear fruit in our lives, for as Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24

"The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus." Jesus knew this, and yet He also washed Judas' feet. It is hard to serve those whom we know will hurt and betray us, but Jesus could do it because He is not only truth but grace: as John testified, "We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

After Judas left the room to betray Him, Jesus said to the remaining disciples:

"Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:31-35

So we need to be light, be salt and be the aroma, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16,

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?"

As someone wise put it, we need to preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words. Too often, we use a lot of words, and don't preach Christ at all!

So let us preach the Gospel and glorify God by our acts of service to others done in love and humility and grace.