sermonette: Footwashing

Humbling Ourselves As Servants
Ted E. Bowling
Given 16-Apr-05; Sermon #714s; 14 minutes

Description: (show)

---

We will be taking the Passover next Sabbath. Which will begin God's spring holy days. During the Passover service, we will be partaking of the symbols of Christ's body and blood, the unleavened bread and the wine symbolizing the remission of sins and our faith in the body of Christ. But first, we will be participating in the foot washing ceremony. Christ instituted the foot washing service to give us a vivid reminder of the character of God that we first must be servants willing to serve in humility without regard to our station in life. And would you please turn to John 13. We will see that verses 1 through 17 show the instruction and of the foot washing ceremony and how he instituted it that, that evening. In the Bible study, the Bible study series on John that John Wright and Ball gave, he stays here about John 13, the 1st 17 verses that it shows us the, the mind of God and his attitude toward his creation, and that these scriptures may show more of his mindset than any other scriptures in the Bible. Here we see our Creator, the Almighty God, as a servant and willing to serve his own servants. Christ spent his years on earth as a teacher and a servant. Not striving to become the greatest on this earth. He spent 3 years teaching his disciples and preparing them. But at the beginning of this evening, if we look at Luke 22:24, we would see that the disciples were bickering between themselves on who would be the greatest. Showing us that all those years with Christ and under his teaching, they did not get it. They did not really get this concept of serving. Now in verse one, it states Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come. That he should depart from this world to, to the Father, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. To show the disciples in us today, the nature of this love, Jesus did something totally unexpected. He took the position of a lowly servant and washed their feet, and they, as we say nowadays, a picture is worth 1000 words. Well, washing their feet spoke volumes. We must consider The routines back in the day of Jesus in that first century. Foot washing was a common practice. It was needed service because the people wore open toed sandals rather than the shoes that we wear. They did not travel by car or bus, but by walking or by animal. They walked usually everywhere, usually on dusty paths or dusty roads. It, when it rained, they walked through the mud. They did not have concrete or brick, although some cities had some paved streets, but not very many. We do not ever really consider that Christ walked around with dirty feet. Uh, because we wear socks and shoes. But by wearing sandals, it was common and their feet got quite dirty. And they did not bathe every day like we did. They bathed, bath when they go to a special ceremony or as a guest in the household, but as a routine, it did not happen every day. And so, when someone went to someone's home, it was customary that the host would provide the guests, um. A tub of water to wash their feet and if possible, to show them honor and respect, he would even provide a slave or a servant to do the task. It was customary to have a tub of water near the door, and the servant would remove the sandals and wash their feet before they went in. It was it would be considered outrageous though for the, for the owner of the home to do this to the guests themselves. In a cultural sense, then, Jesus was doing something totally radical. Foot washing is often referred to as a simple or menial task. Amino task means a job, um, That is of a servile type appropriate or suitable only for a slave or a lowly servant. The middle nature of foot washing in the Jews' eyes was something that was not even worthy of a Jewish slave should be involved with. They refer also excuse me, they refer back to Leviticus 2539, which states that if one of your countrymen becomes a becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. So many felt at that time that foot washing was a task that should be reserved for Gentiles or servants only. Remember, the roads at that time were very dirty, dusty, could be very muddy. And The shoes and sandals, like I said, had no protection. And we must also consider that the streets at that time were shared with the animals, donkeys, camels, whatever type. And so, The toes might be caked with dirt and mud, but it also might be. Soil with droppings. Maybe a build up of compost between the droppings and the the mud together. You got to understand this was a daily practice. This was not uncommon for them. So a servant kneeling before a person to wash their feet, probably did not smell too great. People in those days probably did not get pedicures, so the feet were not probably smooth or soft, but more probably that they were hard and calloused, very weathered. As Jesus and the disciples came to the upper room to keep the Passover, there was no servant provided. Each one of one of the disciples apparently thought that they were above this task. Washing dirty feet was reserved for some one of the lowest position, the lowliest servant in the, in the house. Because this was considered a probably a disgusting and vile job and possibly the reason that no disciple volunteered to do the job at that time. To wash the feet, it was necessary to kneel before a person. Uh, this is a position of humility, humbled, and also a position of vulnerability. And this defenseless position. Disciples' minds were not set on being humble, but what their position in God's kingdom was. Many Jews saw humility and an attitude of service as a weakness, and most wanted to have no part of it, as we see it often time today. People today want to be served, not to serve. In fact, today. They teach to be hard-nosed, always looking for the way to take advantage of another. In the business world, they are taught to walk over other people to do whatever it takes to get to the top, and why? Because their goal in life is not to work anymore, but to be served. Never considering the attitude of giving or providing service. Even as we drive down the highway, we see this attitude as well. No one really wants to give. Everyone wants to take. So the, the action of Jesus taking off his outer garment and tying a towel around himself underscores the humiliation in this act to them. Christ laid aside his robes. He laid aside his position as master and took on the Lowliest job of the house, he emptied himself of his status without pretentiousness or pride and become the lowliest servant. This is the way Jesus demonstrated true humility and true love. Now I'm sure the disciples were dumbfounded by this action, to see him doing this because likely they have never seen the host or the master of anyone ever do this prior. It's just something that did not happen in that day. But it was the last and probably the greatest act that Jesus did to teach them before he was arrested and crucified. In verse 14 of the, of the same chapter, it says, If I then, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I give you an example that you should do as I have done. So we see that the first washing ceremony teaches us that we must put away our pride and become humble servants because we are servants of Jesus Christ, and he led us by example. As servants of Jesus Christ, we must be willing to do whatever task is necessary, even the most menial or undesirable that is necessary for the good of the brethren. There will always be people that will be willing to do the great things for God. But are we willing to do the menial things? The things that do not bring us great respect for honor. Human Experiences confirms that. The servant attitude is sets apart. If we are one to have a servant's attitude, we can see that there is an example of true leadership. A story I read on the internet which, you know, stories on the internet was based in the fact that I thought it was very interesting. Valley Forge and there are 3 men there digging and trying to lift a large log onto a structure to build a building to protect themselves from the winter weather, and there was 1 man standing over them, a corporal, trying to get him to lift harder and lift harder. To get the job done, but the men were having no success at it. And The corporal was this corporal that was over them was very indignant and Kept trying to throw them on to work harder, but A stranger came by and told the corporal if he would help them, they could probably get the job done. And the corporal refused. He said, I can't do that. I'm a, I'm a corporal, those are privates. If you want to do it, you do it. So the gentleman reached down and helped them. Uh, lift the log and put it in place. And then the gentleman said if you did get a hold of me later, you can call me at headquarters because the helper was George Washington himself. Now again, if that's a true story, I do not know, but it fits. If it's the story here, because Christ's example is to show us that we should be willing to do the meaning of things, that there is no task below us and that Be for doing this, it will show us the type of heart that we have. We must be careful not to get caught up in our daily routines because in this day and age, the giving attitude is just not there. We have a nephew nephew who just graduated from college recently and he was in a fraternity. And the lower classmen are required to serve the upperclassmen for the first year or two. And all they can't wait is to get to be a junior receiver cause they can boss people around and tell them what you no matter what it is, wash their clothes, cook me food. And this is the mindset they leave college with is being served and they take us into the business world and that is what we see uh. Commonly happening today that that is the goal. And even Christ. As he washed the feet, Judas was there as well, a man that was, that he knew that would betray him, so we must even be willing to serve and, and do for those that do not like us or perhaps hate us. Christ's life was an example of humility and service and generosity, which is in direct contrast with the rest of all humanity. Our natural tendency is to Have others serve us. God's way is to be unpretentious and willingness to serve in any way. In Philippians 2 and verse 3 through 5, it states, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also to the things of others. Let this mind be in you. Which was in Jesus Christ. Why was Jesus washing feet before his death? I think verse one stays at the best, right at the end, it says, because he loved his own who were in the world, and he loved them to the end. And we have this yearly reminder of this, that we are always love and how he loved us. We see here the character and the mind of God. That he was a humble servant prepared to sacrifice. And in verse 17 it states, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.