The Servant King
Text: John 13:1-17
Core Idea: Jesus loves us to the end. We know this because “for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Heb. 12:2) in order to wash our sins away. Then as recipients of His service, we’re called to serve one another with the heart of Christ for the joy of this community and the glory of God.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It’s always good to be together. If you’re new with us today, we’re so glad that you’re with us. I pray that the Spirit will enlighten all our hearts to see how beautiful our Lord is – and that you’ll be transformed by the love that He has for you. Last week, we saw that when the first church encountered tension in the community, with humility and wisdom, the apostles invited others to be the solution, by sharing the responsibility of ministry with others. And one of the truths that I emphasized was that God calls all His people to ministry – that God uses ordinary people like us to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways, that He gifts each person with unique yet essential skills and talents in building His church. This then implies that God orchestrated all things to bring you to this community because He wants to build this church through you. This means that every one of you is indispensable, important to the health of this body, because your ministry will bring this beautiful diversity, encouragement, and strength to this group. But your service isn’t only for this community, it’s also vital for your own spiritual health.
This is something that I learned from Pastor Tim Kerr. Imagine your Christian life as a pipe – there’s an opening on both sides, and as with a typical pipe, something is constantly coming in while something is constantly going out. If we apply this metaphor to our Christian life, the input represents the things that we learn, receive like spending time in the Word of God, praying, going to a Bible study, reading Christian books, and so on. Now, in contrast, the output represents the way we respond to the truth coming in – obedience, service, giving, loving, and so on. It would be ideal for us to have a healthy balance of both input and output; but the reality is that many of us often find ourselves with one of those openings partially, seasonally blocked. Two scenarios: First, let’s say that the input is largely blocked while the things are constantly going out. You’re not spending time in the Word and prayer yet you’re doing a lot for the church, for others. Even though you may be doing good things, this is not healthy for you – and in fact, it will lead to burnout, apathy, and joylessness. Then what’s the solution? It’s not to reduce the output but increase the input. If we’re on our way home and gas runs out, we don’t say, “Well, I guess I’m sleeping in the car.” No, we put more gas in. In the same way, we don’t serve less; we consume more of the Word to breathe life in us, to be strengthened and encouraged. Second, what if the output is largely blocked while you’re regularly feeding your soul? You’re reading, studying the Word, listening to a lot of sermons, Christian podcasts, yet you’re not serving, you’re not living out the truth, you’re not loving others. Even though good things are coming in, this is also not healthy for you – and in fact, it will lead to spiritual dryness; more and more, you’ll feel like you’re not getting much out from the Word. Then what’s the solution? It’s not to reduce the input but to increase our output. When we go to a buffet hungry, everything looks good. So, you stuff yourself with everything you see, and you’re completely satisfied, ready to burst. At this point, what happens when you go back to the food table? Nothing looks good anymore. The thought of eating more actually makes you feel disgusted. Now, no one here will force yourself to eat more until you can appreciate the taste again – no, you digest, exercise before you go back for more. In the same way, serving in a meaningful way, living out the truth will actually make your time in the Word and prayer that much sweeter.
So, friends, which category do you fall into? Maybe you’re healthy – balanced input and output – and that’s amazing! I want to encourage you to continue to do what you do. But for others, what are some symptoms you’re experiencing? Are you more burnt-out, apathetic, or spiritually dry? I wonder if more of us fall into the second category today, especially because of this pandemic which caused us to be spiritually inactive in many ways. And if this is you, I believe that the Spirit is inviting you, convicting you, encouraging you to increase your output through serving. It’s time to obey: God is calling you to serve and minister with the gifts that He has given you – for the joy of this community but also for your own joy.
Then as we talk about serving, what better way is there to prepare ourselves than to look at Jesus who was called the Servant King? So, if you have your Bibles, please turn to John 13:1-17. This passage begins the Passion narrative in the Gospel of John as Jesus prepares for His final week before His death. And you’ll see that, in light of His imminent death, we see Jesus serving His disciples by washing their feet. Here’s the King of the universe who came not to be served but to serve (Mk. 10:45). Then as we explore deeper into this passage, I pray that we would first understand the beauty and greatness of His service to us, because without it, our effort to imitate Him will be impossible. But when we see it, experience it, receive His service for us, it will transform us, empower us to be like Him. Of course, at the same time, I also pray that we would certainly learn from Him and be moved by His example to serve our community, Lighthouse Toronto, with the same kind of joy and zeal He displayed here. And in light of our election today, let us continue to pray that the elected leaders will serve the church with the heart of Christ. John 13:1-17.
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. 5 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For He knew who was going to betray Him, and that was why He said not every one was clean. 12 When 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. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
I want to look at three things regarding Jesus’ service to us:
THE DRIVING FORCE
THE GOAL
THE PATTERN
1) THE DRIVING FORCE
Verse 1 says, “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.” Jesus knew that His hour had come, that His days were numbered, that soon He will die for the sins of the world. I want you to imagine what that would’ve been like for Jesus – the emotions that He must have felt, the questions that He must have asked, the weightiness on His heart. And in this intense moment, Jesus turned His attention to His disciples. He chose to serve them. Let me read the rest of the verse, which in my mind is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible. Here’s why Jesus didn’t run away but was empowered to face His death joyfully on the cross: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” It’s a rare thing to see what’s really on Jesus’ heart in the Bible – but here, John shares that as Jesus looked around to His closest friends, and as He looked back to His time with them, He knew that He would love them to the end.
This is astonishing if you realize that Jesus was about to go through this unimaginable pain and agony that would surely stop any of us from loving or serving others – but it didn’t stop Him. His love for them was unstoppable. No matter what, He was going to endure it. Listen to what Dane Ortlund says about this verse, “In going to the cross, Jesus did not retain something for Himself, the way we tend to do when we seek to love others sacrificially. He does not love like us. We love until we are betrayed. Jesus continued to the cross despite betrayal. We love until we are forsaken. Jesus loved through forsakenness. We love up to a limit. Jesus loves to the end.” It’s easy to love and serve people when you’re comfortable. But when you’re in pain, it’s very hard to think about anybody else. Pain naturally and usually causes you to be inward – but Jesus did the opposite. Now, do we know how much pain Jesus was in? Of course not, but we see a glimpse of it at the Garden of Gethsemane. This is what Luke 22:41 says, “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done’… And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” If He was sweating blood at the thought of the cross, what was it like to actually go through it? Think with me: the sins of the world would be put on Him; the very people He came to save would mock Him, torture Him, deny Him, and ultimately crucify Him; the fullness of God’s fierce wrath would be on Him; He was about to be abandoned, rejected by the Father. We can only imagine how excruciating, agonizing His pain would be. He knew what He was about to face yet He was thinking of somebody else. “Having loved His own… He loved them to the end.”
Now, there’s one more thing to notice here. He didn’t just love them to the end, He loved despite the recipient’s unworthiness. Verse 2, “The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.” In the midst of this story, John reminds the readers that Judas was going to betray Jesus. In fact, aside from Peter, Judas is the only other disciple mentioned here, which means that John was intentionally reminding us of his presence. Why? Because he wanted to show us that Jesus served, washed the feet of someone who was going to betray Him. There’s no indication that when Jesus came to Judas, He skipped him, and washed the rest of the disciples’ feet. No, in fact, Judas wasn’t the only one who was unworthy to receive His service. Jesus also knew that Peter was going to deny Him. One was going to betray Him; one was going to deny Him; and everyone else was going to abandon Him. Yet, He washed all their feet. He served all of them without exception. We know how hard this is. It’s difficult enough to love and serve when you’re hurting. But to serve the very ones who were causing the pain – it would be unthinkable. Yet Jesus did.
Brothers and sisters, in the same way, Jesus Christ loves you to the end – and nothing can change or remove His love for you. If this is true (and it is), then we can’t help but to wonder, “Why?” Why does Jesus love us to the end? The answer is in verse 1: “Having loved His own… He loved them to the end.” In other words, He loves us to the end because He loves us. It sounds circular, I know; but this makes sense only in the context of love. As many of you know, Alicia and I have been gifted with a beautiful son, Julian, who is now six weeks old. I love him with all my heart – but this love for him is not because of anything that he does. And it’s not because he’s making my life any easier; in fact, my life is more complicated, busy, exhausting because of him. Yet I know that I will love him to the end because I love him – it’s purely because I’m choosing to put my love on him. John didn’t say, “Because they gave their lives to Jesus, because they faithfully obeyed, because they did this or that, Jesus loved them to the end.” No, it says, “Having loved His own… He loved them to the end.” God doesn’t love us because we’re perfect; it’s because He is perfect. He doesn’t love us because we’re lovable; it’s because He is love.
Christians, do you know what this means for us? It means that our future is secure. Death cannot separate us. Our salvation cannot be taken away from us. He will be for us. He will love us to the end. But what’s even more amazing is that because He loves us to the end, He also loves us now. He is walking with you now. He is carrying you now. He is guiding you now. He is providing for you now. He is comforting you now. He is praying for you now – all because He loves you now and to the end. Do you know this love? Are you reminded of and experiencing this love for you daily? Is your heart stirred and moved by this love? His love for you and me is the power that drove Jesus to do all that He did for us, to joyfully serve us, die for us on the cross. Are you ever doubtful of His love for you because of what’s happening in your lives? I’m not going to lie; it certainly is hard to believe that He loves us when we’re going through difficult times. But whenever you are shaken, when it becomes difficult to hold on to this truth (that He loves us), I invite you to look to the cross over and over again, because the cross will remind us that Jesus Christ loved us to the end.
2) THE GOAL
Let’s go back to verse 1. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.” Verse 3, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.” John emphasized the things Jesus knew – He knew who He was (the Son of God), where He came from and where He was going (heaven to rule and reign), and why He came (to die for His people). Knowing all these things, verse 4, “So He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and” and washed their feet. Because He knew His identity, mission, and destiny, He washed their feet. In other words, He wanted to serve them, show His love for them; but this wasn’t just an act of kindness, He wanted to use this opportunity to teach them something important.
Now, we could think that this would’ve been a beautiful moment for Jesus and His disciples – we imagine that there were some tears of joy, humility; feelings of gratitude welling up in their hearts as they affirmed their love for each other. Actually, it was completely the opposite – at least in the beginning. What Jesus did was absolutely shocking, offensive, and horrifying. We see this just by looking at Peter, because he vehemently opposed Jesus’ action not once but twice. Verse 6, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Then verse 8, “No, you shall never wash my feet.” What was going on here? Why was Peter so resistant?
They lived in an extremely dry, parched climate – essentially desert-like conditions all the time. And because everyone wore sandals in that culture, you could imagine how dirty your feet would get. At the same time, we must remember that they didn’t have chairs and tables like in the West. In their culture, the table was much closer to the ground, which meant that in order to eat, you had to recline. This means that you were lying on your side, with one elbow propped up, with your feet off to the side, essentially putting your feet beside the guest seated next to you. You understand why keeping your feet clean was important for the sake of others but also for your dignity. For someone to come to the table with dirty feet was disrespectful. So, upon entering a house, the guests were served by having their feet washed. Now, the act of washing feet was reserved for the lowest slaves, because your feet were dirty and smelly. It’s not the body part that you wanted to show off; it’s the part that you wanted to hide.
So, considering all these things, you could imagine how scandalous it was for the disciples to see Jesus getting ready to do the work that only the lowest slaves would do. It was offensive, embarrassing for them to see their teacher and Lord wash the feet of His disciples. But what made this scene so uncomfortable for them was the fact that their feet would be exposed in front of everybody – it would’ve been horribly shameful to have their dirty, smelly feet become the centre of attention, the focus of that entire room. The very thing that the people in that culture worked so hard to cover up, hide, here was Jesus, bringing it out to light. No wonder Peter responded that way – it must have felt painfully uncomfortable. No one understood why Jesus was doing this. In fact, Jesus affirmed that in verse 7 when He said, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Jesus was saying, “I know you don’t understand what I’m doing. But it won’t be long before you do.”
What was He referring to? The cross. In the foot-washing, Jesus was acting out what Paul talked about in Philippians 2: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Jesus, our God, our King, made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. He was humiliated, not us. He was stripped naked, not us. He was spat on, mocked, dishonored, rejected, and killed, not us. Why? Verse 8, Jesus says, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” The foot-washing which symbolized the cross served two purposes: to wash them clean and to make a way for them to be accepted.
The reason why Jesus was exposing, uncovering, bringing to light their dirty, smelly feet was not to shame them; it was to wash them clean. No matter how uncomfortable this was for the disciples, it was necessary for them to become vulnerable in order to make them clean. In the same way, on the cross, Jesus’ death exposes, uncovers our sins, idols because He wants to wash them away, because He wants to make us clean. It’s true that we want to resist like Peter – “Jesus, don’t look there. I don’t want to show you. It’s not that bad. I’ll wash it off myself. You can have everything but not this; this is where I draw the line.” We can cry, resist; but Jesus is reminding us through the foot-washing, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” In other words, when we truly encounter Jesus, it will bring us face to face with some of the deepest ways that we’ve been trying to prove that we’re worthy. What is that for you? Wealth, career, family, beauty, reputation – what is something that you’ve been using to prove your worth? Jesus wants to rip them out of your hands and begin to wash you clean because our worth and significance can only be found in Him. In Him, we will find our greatest joy. Then friends, have you experienced this exposure of your sins in light of the cross? Have you ever felt vulnerable and naked before God? If you have, that’s amazing because He’s beginning the process of making you clean. Yes, it will feel uncomfortable, offensive at times – but let Him wash you, because this is the only way we can be accepted, the only way we can have an intimate relationship with Him. One pastor said, “Christian faith is not about what you need to do for God to be accepted by Him. The Christian faith is about what God needed to do for you so that you might be accepted by Him.” The goal of Jesus’ service was to cleanse us, forgive us, heal us, save us so that we can be found in Him.
3) THE PATTERN
After He finished washing their feet, Jesus didn’t simply say, “Now, go wash one another’s feet.” No, He said this in verse 14, “Now 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.” He asked them to wash one another’s feet because He has done that for them as a model for them to imitate. Then let’s recap how Jesus served them so that we can learn from Him.
First, Jesus was motivated by this unconditional love and served even the one who was trying to kill Him. This means that we must show this unconditional, sacrificial love to the people we serve, even those who may not be so lovable. We don’t serve to get something out of people; we serve to meet their needs because of our love for them.
Second, Jesus was ready to be humiliated when He did something that was reserved only for the lowest slaves – in other words, He knew the cost of His service, but He did it anyway. This means that we’re called to serve even if the cost may be high. Then what might be the cost you have to pay in order to serve right now?
Third, Jesus served to bring healing and forgiveness – to bless the recipients of His service. This means that we serve because we want to bring healing, restoration, and life to those who we serve. We serve to bless. We’re driven by the desire to see them blossom.
Now, if I said to you, “Go do likewise,” it would be an act of cruelty because who can really serve this way? It would be an impossible task to accomplish – I would be setting you up for a failure. It would be like telling you to give away a lot of money when you’re bankrupt. In other words, we can’t serve this way if we’re empty. But there is a way we can serve like Christ. How? Listen to what Pastor Tim Keller said, “The key is not to see Christ washing other people’s feet; the key is to see Him washing your feet.” Friends, have you ever seen the Lord of the universe, humble Himself, (metaphorically speaking) stoop down, take your dirty feet, and wash them? Have you ever said, “Jesus, how can it be that You, my King, would die for me?” I ask this because when you feel, experience, receive His love through His service on the cross, when you know that He did this for you, your heart will be full, because He now becomes all that you need – your security, hope, treasure, joy, and life. Only then His pattern of service will be your pattern of service.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus loves us to the end. We know this because “for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Heb. 12:2) in order to wash our sins away so that we may be accepted by the Father. He served us to bless us. Have you been served by Him?If so, let us serve one another with the heart of Christ for the joy of this community and the glory of God.