[0:00] Good evening and a warm welcome to the service this evening. Good to see everyone here and especially those from different congregations who are visiting.! One or two notices just to say that tomorrow the services are at the usual times 11 and 6 to 11 o'clock service is the service that we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and 6pm evening service, Thanksgiving service and then a fellowship afterwards where welcome.
[0:29] So, we'll share with us that as well. So, be encouraged to come along to these services again. I'm reminded that the session remains open. We were thankful yesterday to receive Gina McLeod, who's at the back there, and also Lois McLeod, our own Lois, and also Aerie Morrison.
[0:54] The session met with them last night and we're very pleased to receive them into communion membership in the congregation. So, we pray for them and we give thanks for the Lord's work in our lives. If you know the Lord and are trusting the Lord, but haven't yet professed faith, then be encouraged to meet with the elders who will be in the room on my left at the end of the service.
[1:20] So, easy to think of all the notices, and I'm now just going to hand over to Malcolm and we will be in the worship. Well, it's good to be here to worship God, and we can do so by singing from Psalm 65 and sing Psalms, verses 1 to 5.
[1:51] In Zion praise awaits you, Lord.
[2:21] To you, our prayers will pay. To you, our people will come near.
[2:36] You hear us when we pray. When we were overwhelmed by sins and guilt upon us, may.
[3:01] You pardoned all our trespasses and washed our guilt away.
[3:18] How blessed are those you choose and bring within your course of grace.
[3:35] We're filled with blessings in your house, in your most holy place.
[3:52] With awesome deeds of righteousness, you answered us, O God.
[4:08] Our Savior, O God. Our Savior, O God. Our Father, O God. Our Father, O God. And O the earth, O God.
[4:23] Our Savior, O God.
[4:35] And shall we pray. Lord, we give thanks that we can come into your presence again.
[4:48] We realize in a certain sense we never leave your presence because you are everywhere. But we also know there's a special sense in which we can come in to worship you, the great eternal God.
[5:01] We thank you, Lord, that we can do so, even though we don't have very much awareness of just how great you are. We know certain things that we use words to describe.
[5:16] But we need to have more than an intellectual appreciation of your splendor and your wonder. And we need your Holy Spirit to impress upon us the greatness of God.
[5:35] We can look around in the creation and we can see something there of your power and also of your wisdom. But it doesn't tell us very much about your attitude towards us.
[5:49] But in your word we are given much details about it. And especially what's revealed to us through Jesus, your beloved Son. And the one who came into the world and said and did things in the presence of people.
[6:08] And as he himself summarized his life when he said, He that has seen me has seen the Father. And we look at all these incidents and we realize that in them there is God at work.
[6:25] So whether he is dealing with outcasts like lepers or dealing with disciples that didn't fully understand. Or even when he was speaking to the Pharisees and analyzing and criticizing their assessment of things.
[6:46] In all these instances we see God and we thank you Lord for that. And it's even more astonishing as we think about the cross and what took place there.
[7:01] And to realize that there was Jesus, God in our nature, suffering in ways that we can't even comprehend.
[7:13] And suffering at the hands of God. But we pray Lord that we would, as we have this communion time, this communion season, that we would be led into these features of our faith.
[7:30] And that we would have an experience in which we make contact with the great God of heaven. And we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit.
[7:41] Who as Jesus indicated would take of the things of Christ and reveal them to us. And we pray for his help tonight as we look at the word that he inspired.
[7:54] And the one that he illuminates our minds to understand. And we ask Lord, even if it's a passage that we're familiar with, that we would see something in it that would be beneficial to us in a fresh way.
[8:07] And that you would speak to us personally. And speak to us powerfully. But also to speak to us lovingly. We thank you Lord for the new members.
[8:20] And we pray you bless them. And bless the congregation as a whole. And anyone else who might be thinking about professing you. That you would help them to do so.
[8:30] So we commit ourselves to you for the service. Keep the devil away from us. And pardon us we pray. For Christ's sake. Amen.
[8:42] Now we can sing again to God's praise. This time from Psalm 139. 139a. And sing Psalms. And we'll sing verses 13 to 18.
[8:56] For you O Lord created me. You wove me on your loom. My end was being you have formed within my mother's womb. Verses 13 to 18.
[9:14] For you O Lord created me.
[9:24] You hold me on your loom. You hold me on your loom. My end was being you have formed within my mother's womb.
[9:51] Because I'm wonderfully made. Because I'm wonderfully made.
[10:03] With all your grace I tell. Your work my ship is marvelous.
[10:21] And this I know who am. When in the secret place my faith was made before my birth.
[10:49] You saw my body yet unformed within the death's longer.
[11:08] And all the days that I should live. And all the days that I should live.
[11:20] Which you ordained for me. Were written in your book O Lord.
[11:38] Before they came to be. O God how precious are your thoughts.
[11:59] I stand them from our heart. And as I see. And as I see.
[12:12] To God's plan. All. How numberless. They are.
[12:24] Where I too. And there they would be. with a new hand.
[13:14] We can turn to the Gospel of John. Gospel of John in chapter 13. And we can read verses 1 to 20.
[13:29] Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
[13:54] During supper, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.
[14:13] He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
[14:29] He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.
[14:44] Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
[15:02] Jesus said to him, The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.
[15:14] For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, Not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?
[15:32] You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
[15:45] For I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
[16:02] If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But the scripture will be fulfilled.
[16:15] He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he.
[16:28] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
[16:39] And may God bless that reading. Well, now sing from Psalm 40 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 40, verses 1 to 5.
[16:55] I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear. At length to me he did incline my voice and cry to hear. Verses 1 to 5.
[17:07] I waited for the Lord my God, and patiently did bear.
[17:33] At length to me he did incline my voice and cry to hear.
[17:51] He took me from a fearful pit and from the mighty day.
[18:09] And on a rock he set my feet establishing my way.
[18:25] He heard a new song in my mouth, our God to magnify.
[18:42] many shall see it and shall fear. And on the Lord rely.
[18:59] O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies, respecting not the crown nor such has heard a sigh to rise.
[19:36] O Lord my God, for many are the wonders the wonders thou hast done.
[19:55] Like vicious thoughts to us were far above all thoughts are gone.
[20:10] In order none can wreck on them, to thee if that he paid.
[20:27] and speak of them I would say more than can be numbered up.
[20:44] Amen. We can turn back to the passage we read, John chapter 13.
[20:59] And you can take us a text, verse 12. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?
[21:30] I just want us to look at the passage itself. It's a very well known incident in the life of Jesus. It's the last day of his life on earth.
[21:48] The Hebrew day began at the evening, not in the morning. So it's now Thursday evening. And it's the Passover time.
[22:01] And within 24 hours, Jesus is going to be dead. So it's the last day of his earthly journey, as it were.
[22:18] I'm sure we all know that there's some incidents in the Bible that are referred to in all the four Gospels. And usually when they're referred to in each of the Gospels, there is some similarity between the accounts.
[22:38] Well, as we know, all of them refer to the last 24 hours of Jesus' life.
[22:50] But John tells us things that the other Gospel writers don't mention. And the other Gospel writers mention things that John doesn't mention.
[23:04] Rather surprisingly, although this is the night when the Lord's Supper is instituted, John doesn't mention the Lord's Supper at all.
[23:16] And no doubt he was guided to do that by the Holy Spirit. It's very hard for us to work out a reason why he doesn't mention it.
[23:30] But anyway, he doesn't. And that's it. On the other hand, the other three Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, don't mention this incident of him washing their feet.
[23:45] And we might expect them to record it because it's such a startling incident. But they don't mention it.
[23:56] And again, we can't really say reasons why they chose to do that. But they were guided by the Holy Spirit. But anyway, we can put the Gospels together and work out what has happened.
[24:17] The incident that we read about takes place before Judas is identified. So, he's among the twelve that get their feet washed.
[24:32] And that again is very striking, isn't it? I wonder what Jesus felt like when he was washing the feet of Judas.
[24:45] And what Judas felt like when Jesus was washing his feet. Because it already was in Judas' heart as we read there. He's already in his heart to betray Jesus.
[24:58] So, Jesus washes the feet of the betrayer. And the betrayer has got this last, as it were, touch from Jesus.
[25:14] I just want us to think about what this incident might have meant for the disciples under four headings. And the first one is what the event meant for them.
[25:28] And then secondly, how Jesus was an example for them. And then the explanation he gave to them. And lastly, the exhortation that he made to them at the end.
[25:44] The event. The event. What was the event like? What was the event like? Well, I suppose the disciples saw Jesus in different outlooks.
[26:00] It was, he's a real man, of course. And sometimes they would have seen him and he'd have been sad. Because he is called the man of sorrows. Other times they would have seen him and he'd be very happy.
[26:15] When he rejoices. We're told now and again in the Gospels that he rejoices on specific occasions. And no doubt when he rejoiced, he did rejoice.
[26:27] And when he was sad, he was sad. He didn't do anything 50%.
[26:41] Everything he did was 100%. And on this occasion, there's a great deal of intensity in his outlook.
[26:57] Because Luke tells us, I think it's Luke who tells us about this particular occasion that Jesus said to the disciples, with desire, have I desired to eat this Passover before I suffer.
[27:12] And nothing about Jesus could be hidden. So this intensity of desire would have been evident as they went through the evening together.
[27:30] So the event for them is a very intense time. It's also a time of profound instruction.
[27:43] If we knew it was going to be our last day, what would we say? Well, Jesus knew it was his last few hours with the disciples and he spends it instructing them.
[28:00] And he instructs them, as we know, about the Holy Spirit. He's speaking about what's going to happen in their lives after he leaves them.
[28:12] And it's possibly the case that they didn't take it all in. But there he is, speaking to them about the profound effects the Holy Spirit is going to have in their lives.
[28:28] So there's intensity and there's almost new instructions. But there certainly are final instructions.
[28:40] And he also gives stark warnings. He warns them about Judas. But he also warns them about Peter.
[28:54] And there's a certain sense in which from an external point of view they appeared at times to be the most important of the disciples.
[29:09] Judas, as we know, was the person that had the money bag, the treasurer of the group. And he was making, taking money out for himself, but he was still, and that was his role.
[29:29] And Peter, he seems to be the spokesman. Whenever a question is asked, usually Peter jumps in with the answer. Whether it was the correct answer or not, he still offered it.
[29:42] And we're going to see in this incident that Peter's got a major part to play in it. But it's a time of stark warning.
[29:56] And the Saviour was, it's not right to call him blunt, but it is. He was straight, straightforward in how he spoke. And he spoke with clarity.
[30:10] And his disciples would have heard it. And it puzzled them. And it upset them. And the last thing I can say about what, at this moment, what the event was like, was that there's these symbolic actions.
[30:28] The Lord's Supper, the one that's repeated every time that, that his death is remembered, which we might, we're very familiar with.
[30:42] But it was something totally new to the disciples. They had seen nothing like it before. And certainly had never heard somebody say, this is how you're going to remember me.
[30:57] But he said it, And no doubt that puzzled them. What does this mean? Because they imagine that they're on the verge of greatness.
[31:09] On the verge of the great, of human greatness, of climbing to the top of the tree, of the Jesus about to take the throne, somewhere in Jerusalem.
[31:23] That's what they imagined. And they thought they would be prominent in the days to come. And instead he's talking about a symbolic manner.
[31:35] And then there's this one here that we're going to think about. He washes their feet. A symbolic action. Now it is quite unusual, or quite surprising, that no one has washed their feet.
[31:56] For the past few days, the disciples have been spending every night in Bethany. They would stay in Bethany, probably in the house of Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
[32:14] And then they were going to Jerusalem for the day, and then back again and back to Bethany at night. And it was a Jewish custom, that whenever people came into your house, someone would wash their feet.
[32:34] And therefore it's virtually certain, that in all the previous nights of that week, these disciples had had their feet washed.
[32:45] It's impossible to imagine the house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, ignoring this normal practice.
[32:59] And therefore it's quite astonishing, that no one did it here. Earlier in the day, Jesus had told Peter and John, to go and prepare the room for the Passover.
[33:22] So everything in that room, had been put there by Peter and John, including the water, and including the towel, that Jesus was going to use, when he washed their feet.
[33:41] And yet, despite the fact that they had been instrumental, in getting the room ready, and it wasn't an easy task to get the room ready, because the primary reason why they were to get the room ready, was to make sure there was no leaven in it.
[34:02] And there was no leaven in it. If there was any leaven in the room, then the occasion would have been in jeopardy. And therefore they would have been very scrupulous, in ensuring that there was no leaven, and at the same time, they made sure that everything that was needed for the occasion, was in the room, including the water and the towel.
[34:34] And that raises the obvious question, doesn't it? Why didn't Peter use the towel and the water that he had put into the room?
[34:50] And I suppose we could make lots of suggestions as to why he didn't do it. Maybe he felt it was, since he had been busy getting the room ready, it would be more appropriate for somebody else to do it.
[35:13] And maybe the others just thought, since Peter had the room ready, he should do it. But whatever they thought, none of them did it.
[35:27] But it's really quite surprising. There's nothing... It's very unusual for us to be somewhere where somebody washes somebody's feet. But it wouldn't be unusual in Israel.
[35:40] It would be a daily activity. It would be as common as having a cup of tea. And yet, on this night, of all nights, no one did it.
[35:55] It's a very strange event. And of course, we know what it's like, don't we, when the time for doing something has passed.
[36:10] And we spot it. And we're reluctant to draw attention to it. And maybe that's what happened here, until Jesus threw attention to it.
[36:27] And that just leads us to our second point. His example to them. You know, the atmosphere in a room can be, or anywhere, can be affected by what people are going to be doing.
[36:52] I suppose we could say, when somebody's leaving somewhere, there's a big difference between if they're going on a holiday, or if they're emigrating. And Jesus here, he's doing something that's far greater than emigration.
[37:15] But he is going to another country. He's leaving Israel. And as he tells the disciples in this upper room, he's going to his father's house.
[37:30] And, and we know from John chapter 14, that they don't know what he's referring to. As, as Thomas says to him, we don't know where you're going.
[37:48] But he's a, he's given them a real surprise. He's going to a country that they know nothing about. But he knows where he's going.
[38:00] And therefore, he's going to give them an example of how they should live, once he has gone. And there at the start of the, chapter 13, and the end of verse one, we're told about, it's John's reminiscing of what was happening that night, Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 60 or so years later, is just reciting to us the things that affected him as he was in that room.
[38:40] And the first thing that he tells us about it is that, knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.
[38:56] There's a bit of a dispute as to how the words translated there, to the end, how they should be translated.
[39:12] The, it could mean to the end of the period, or it could mean that he loved them completely.
[39:24] He loved them constantly. He loved them all the way. And throughout that period, he loved them fully.
[39:40] And therefore, John is framing this action by Jesus, by Jesus, he's referring, he's framing it under Jesus' love.
[39:53] ! Jesus washed their feet, because he loved them. And that's wonderful to know, isn't it? because the one thing they're showing, is a lack of Browley love, isn't it?
[40:13] None of them, have taken it upon themselves, to wash their, brothers' feet. They haven't taken it upon themselves, to wash the feet of Jesus either, Jesus loves them, completely.
[40:31] At this moment, when they're not even showing love, in a little way. And in his heart, there's this great affection, for them.
[40:44] And, he's doing it at a difficult time, he tells, we're told there in verse 3, that, he knows that the Father, has given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, and was going back to God.
[41:04] How is he going to get back to God? What's the itinerary, that Jesus faces, in the next few hours, on his journey, back to God?
[41:20] And we know, what it was like. For Jesus, there's only one way, back to God. And that way, is through the cross, and, via the resurrection, and so on.
[41:35] But, the only way that, he, who came from God, came on this mission, of, of rescue, to pay the penalty, for our sin, and so that his people, could be with him eventually, he can't go back to God, until he's completed it.
[41:56] And he knows that this is coming. And it's, it's starting to press upon his, his mind, and his heart.
[42:10] And indeed, in a short time after he said this, he's going to be, rolling about the ground, in the garden of Gethsemane, with a, tremendous, crushing sense, on his heart.
[42:26] As the, as the fullness of the, fullness of the, of the commitment he made, in heaven. As the fullness of that, just starts to impact him, in a new way.
[42:40] And he, prays, to such an extent, that he's, there's, his bodily, um, functions.
[42:53] The blood is coming through his skin, as it were. And he is, going to be in agony, wrestling in earnestness, in the garden of Gethsemane.
[43:06] And it's in his mind here. Because he knows he's going to the Father. And the only way he can get to the Father, is going by the, by the agony of the cross.
[43:20] And, he looks at these disciples. And his love for them, is going to take him there. And, he's going to a country.
[43:36] Another country. It was straightforward for him, to leave that country. He just came down, and became a man. An astonishing miracle, but something, that, well it was, we could say it was pleasurable for him.
[43:57] But to go back, well, no one has yet written the map, as how he's going to do it. Sometimes, when we go on holiday, we look at a map beforehand.
[44:11] And if we're traveling anywhere, we look at the map, to see how to get there. what's the road like, back to heaven? And if we're traveling anywhere, we look at the map, to see how to get there. And if somebody has said to Jesus, on this occasion, what's the road like, back to heaven?
[44:35] What would he have said? Because no one has ever traveled it. No one has gone before him, to say this is what it's like. No one has mapped out, and said it, after this certain distance, you'll get this, and after another bit of a distance, you'll get this.
[44:55] It's all unknown. And he's got this ahead of him. And as it starts to loom upon him, as I mentioned, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in a short time, he's in great distress.
[45:10] But here, in the garden, in the upper room, he is thinking about his disciples. And therefore, he thinks about their benefit.
[45:23] And as we look at this, washing his feet, it's a sign, isn't it? It's a sign of lots of things.
[45:40] It's a sign of greatness, we might say. A sign of a truly great person. Because Jesus is the greatest person. And here he is, facing his greatest moment, as it were.
[45:59] And what does he do? This great person. Great saviour. He serves. It should have been the other way around.
[46:14] We serve greater people. this sign that he gives. Well, he reveals his greatness by serving. Indeed, that was his whole lifestyle.
[46:28] I am among you, as he that serves. It's also a sign of grace, isn't it, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, when you and I serve somebody it's just sinners serving sinners but when Jesus served when he was serving sinners it was a sign of grace it was a sign of grace to serve the sinful people like Peter and James and John and all the others for that particular moment were thinking about which of them should be the greatest but there is the greatest and he's serving them washing their feet and I suppose something else is a sign of as we look at this incident what does somebody on the road to glory do?
[47:46] because that's where Jesus is going he's on the road to glory what does he do? and he's on a road to glory where he has been faithful in every step and he's laying out an example for everybody that travels on the road to glory and the example is that those who are truly on the road to glory that they serve the failure everybody in this room tonight sorry, in the upper room that night apart from Jesus every one of them is going to fail and yet Jesus washes their feet and it's a marvelous sign isn't it?
[48:50] just to sit there and watch him and a sign of greatness to serve a sign of grace to serve sinners a sign that a person is on the road to glory that he serves failures and therefore it's good for us that John included this incident in his gospel so we thought about what the event meant for them and how Jesus is an example for them but then thirdly he he mentions he gives to them an explanation and the explanation might seem to us a little bit cryptic as he speaks to Peter there in verse 10 and says to him the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet but is completely clean
[50:01] Jesus there takes I suppose the two kinds of washings that we can have one is bath where every part of our body is washed and the other one is a wash where only our feet are washed and what is the bath picture and what is the feet washing picture well the bath is there's no doubt we know the bath is the overall cleansing we get the first time we trust in Jesus if you and I have trusted in Jesus on that wonderful day when it happened all our sins were forgiven past present and future slate was white clean forgiven completely a full pardon astonishing none of us knows how many sins we've committed we're unaware of them and the Holy Spirit might have convicted us of some of them at that particular time when we were converted but he didn't convict us of all of them that would be impossible to go through every single one we've ever done in our lives but whatever ones he did convict us about we were forgiven them and also all the others and as I mentioned a minute ago even the ones that we're going to do in the future and since the start of our Christian lives we've never done anything perfect not whoever the greatest saint is he's never done anything perfect
[52:17] Paul after a lifetime of service and as we look at Paul we can feel a bit like well we're so small in comparison to Paul but how did Paul look at his life as he as he looked back on all his years of service what he tells us in one of the last letters that he wrote where he said he doesn't say I was the chief of sinners people miss the point when they when they try to argue is did Paul sin more than others before he was converted because Paul is using the present tense and he's talking about himself after decades of Christian service and he says I am the chief of sinners and if we could interview him and say to him you've written half the new testament
[53:24] Paul but I am the chief of sinners I've planted you've planted churches and scores of places but I am the chief of sinners you've got a great understanding of all these doctrinal mysteries that most of us puzzle over his reply would still be I'm the chief of sinners sinners and that's just a realization that we sin and we sin whether we're aware of it or not nobody there's never been a Christian yet who got 100% in anything and it might be hard for us to take that in but we are sinners but God has provided this marvelous remedy this two fold remedy of having a bath or having a wash both of them and the bath is our first introduction to the grace of
[54:40] God and we are washed clean extraordinary and it doesn't matter if we are a young person who's got a lot less sins than somebody who's been alive for 100 years at the moment they believe for the first time all their sins are washed away and we're clean but that's not the whole story it's good to have that but we also need ongoing cleansing and that's where the washing comes in cleansing of the when the literal sense when somebody got their feet washed it was just because their feet had touched the dust and the dirty ground and whatever else there was they may have had a bath that morning but having gone out for a walk in the street well they had picked up all the various things that could affect their feet as it were and their feet might have been sore because they might have walked on some stones or they might have stood on some thorns who can say that they had been impacted on their feet by what they had from contact with the world and that happens to us as well doesn't it although we've had our bath and although we're clean we still have contact with a world that makes us weary and it can also make us it can affect us and we find ourselves doing things that are worldly and we need to be cleansed and the astonishing and wonderful reality is that the same blood that cleanses us in our bath also cleanses our feet which of course tells us that the same price had to be paid for both so the sins that you and
[57:11] I have committed today as Christians we needed the blood of Christ as much today as the first day when we had our bath and that's wonderful the apostle John says that when we confess our sins he's writing describing Christians when we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and if your conscience is healthy today and if my conscience is healthy today we'll be aware of our sinfulness and we won't want to brush it under the carpet rather we'll want to go to Jesus and get our feet washed and to be cleansed once again and as we come towards the
[58:24] Lord's Supper tomorrow how are we to approach it well we have to approach it as those who have been for a bath and have had scores of washes hundreds of washes thousands of washes we're all dependent of what Jesus did there as he suffered on the cross and he's telling his disciples on this night in which he's betrayed your bath and your numerous washings can only happen because I am going to the cross and there's a certain sense in which we reveal our assessment of the bath by how often we use the food washing because the same sins that I committed today need the blood of
[59:40] Jesus at all times so that's his explanation the master's explanation of the Christian life starts off with a bath and continues with washings again and again and again and again and then that just leads us after his explanation it leads us to think about his exhortation how he applies this how the Savior does it and he gives that application in verse 14 if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you why has he washed their feet because he loves them he's doing this very simple thing
[60:56] I mean the cross was not going to be simple for Jesus but here he's doing a very simple thing washing their feet and he's saying to them I'm doing this because my heart is full of love for you you should do things to one another and it may just be little things like washing feet which is a daily custom in Israel nothing unusual it's just what everybody would have done you know the place of the upper room may have been the only place in Jerusalem where nobody washed their feet apart from when Jesus came and did it but until he had done it the only place in Jerusalem where no one had washed their feet was probably in the upper room and as I mentioned earlier one reason why they hadn't done it was because they did not have an adequate sense of brotherly love but when you and
[62:08] I meet a fellow Christian what kind of person are we meeting we've all met Christians today who did we meet well we met somebody who's in contact with the world we've met somebody who in one way or another just taking the picture Jesus uses we met somebody in one way or another whose defeat have been defiled by just the contact that they can't avoid and Jesus says when that happens we are to do something about it I read somewhere once that the person was talking about washing one other's feet and he talked about the water and he said that sometimes we get angry with one other and we use boiling water at other times we are indifferent and we use frozen water but we are to use proper water as it were when we are washing one another's feet and as we come to a close as we think of this picture that Jesus has here of washing feet what ideas come into mind because at the first
[64:09] Lord's Supper every disciple who sat at it had had their feet washed we are coming to our Lord's Supper Jesus is not here literally to wash feet but we are what kind of attitude does that indicate should be in our hearts and here is just some suggestions washing feet points to humility it's only possible to wash feet from one posture and that is down in our knees and being down in our knees is an expression of humility and even Jesus well who was he when he washed our feet he's the one who humbled himself and how far had he humbled himself well he hadn't yet humbled himself fully because he was going to the cross he was going to humble himself more than he had ever done already but he is saying to us isn't he
[65:36] I wash your feet because I'm humble that's what he says and he says to his followers do it in the same spirit humble yourselves to wash one another's feet it's not easy sometimes but the Savior has given an example but not only is it something we do humbly!
[66:10] we also do a sense of honesty it may be the case that the person whose feet we are washing spiritually speaking needs his feet to be washed or her feet to be washed and we're at that moment we're recognizing that they're not perfect and we may be washing their feet by reminding them of a Bible verse or something like that but it's honesty that's required there cannot be pretense so we have to be humble and we have to be honest but at the same time because the mutual washing of one another's feet is a
[67:13] God given path to blessing that we can engage in it full of hope can't we I mean if we meet somebody for example another Christian who for that moment is affected by doubts and we just say something simple to them like I'll quote in a verse from the Bible but we do it hopefully don't we that God would speak powerfully through his own word and all these it's just a little thing reciting a verse that maybe God has blessed us with that already this day and we just repeat it it's a simple thing but it's a word of power and therefore we can say it with hopefulness that it will bring a blessing to the person we're speaking to and it's also an activity that honors the
[68:27] Savior because he's told us to do it it's an expression of obedience to him it's an expression of rarely love between us but it's an expression of obedience to him because if I find myself in a situation where I have an opportunity of in some simple way helping another Christian by doing the equivalent of washing their feet and I don't do it that's me dishonoring Christ because he expects me to do it and you might be apprehensive what will the person think when I try to help them well the answer to that question is no one can tell you until you've actually done it but it can be done and it's a way of honoring
[69:28] Jesus is it too much to assume that just as with the first Lord's Supper every Lord's Supper should be full of people that have had their feet washed both by Jesus by the daily cleansing of sin but also by the mutual interaction of fellow Christians because as Jesus said I have given you an example to do what I've said last thing I want to say about it is washing feet like this doing little things to help other Christians as it were is an evidence that we're heavenly minded because what kind of mind did
[70:32] Jesus have when he washed their feet what was he thinking about he was thinking about the place he was going to and when you and I sit at the Lord's table we should be thinking about the place we're going to we're going to heaven and in heaven there's no opportunity of washing feet it's done forever one can do it on earth the last thing I want to say is this why don't we all think of ourselves what we do in a thousand years time imagine heaven and there we see somebody that may not have been very prominent in the things of this life either in the society or in the church that we see them there in glory and
[71:47] Jesus as it were is giving them reward after reward after reward and where are most of these rewards coming from why are they getting them it's because throughout their life on earth they spent a lot of time washing other believers feet and Jesus astonishingly never forgets any of them as he said to his disciples on one occasion even if you give a cup of cold water it will get its reward and if it is the possibility of sadness in heaven and there probably isn't but speaking about it from a human point of view when we look back on our lives and then we remember that we could have done something on such and such a date but chose not to do it we could have said a comforting word or we could have offered a measure of correction or we could just have acted in a brotherly manner and washed another
[73:21] Christian's feet it would be sad if that kind of memory was to come to our minds I have no idea if that kind of thing will happen but in this life Jesus calls us to remember that every Christian every day is affected by walking through this world and in one way or another while we cannot do what he did when he washed our feet because he cleanses them through his blood but he does tell us doesn't he to do something that will help Christians who have been walking through the grime of this world and it can just be something very simple that we can do it's all about
[74:23] Browley love these disciples for some reason chose on this evening of evenings not to do it and now we know about it 2000 years later that Jesus' example is there for us to imitate shall we pray Lord we give you thanks that the Saviour was so kind and so compassionate and so focused and as he looked out on his disciples with great love in his heart and he saw them unwilling to do this little thing and we thank you for his wisdom that he was able to take that little lapse as it were by the disciples and turn it into a profound moment where he gave them instruction about the effects of his upcoming death and that the blood that he was about to shed would be sufficient for them to have the equivalent of a bath and the equivalent of countless daily washings and at the same time to invite his disciples these disciples who had failed at that moment to invite them in the days ahead to wash one another's feet help us
[76:13] Lord to do something whatever it is that you lay upon our heart whenever we see other believers so Lord remember us in that way as we prepare for the Lord's supper tomorrow and we just ask for your guidance and your help to be given to us as we interact in the time between now and then so bless us Lord we pray for your own name's sake amen we can sing from psalm 133 in the Scottish Psalter behold how good a thing it is and how becoming well together such as brethren are in unity to dwell we'll sing the whole psalm together together together together together
[77:37] Just brethren are In unity to hell Like precious All we tend On the head The dove of the earth Did flow He did all the air Not to the church Did all its garments roll And there much to The Jew that doth
[78:42] On Zion's hills descend For there the blessing God commands Life that shall never end May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with us all Amen Amen