and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped round him. 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 afterwards you will understand. 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. Jesus said to him, The one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. 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? 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. For I have given you an example, that you also should 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Amen. May God bless the reading and the preaching of his word to us all. Jesus of Nazareth was the most compellingly interesting preacher who has ever lived on this earth. He was great as a preacher, of course, because of what he said. But part of that was the way in which he said it. There never has been a master of the illustration to compare with the Lord Jesus. At painting pictures in words, he was supreme. That is why his sermons lived. That is why the common people heard him gladly. In one sermon, for example, he uses the following illustration. salt, light, a city, a lamp, a bowl, a house, an eye, a hand, a body, a cloak, a tunic, sun, rain, trumpets, a face, treasure, moths, rust, thieves, darkness, money, food, birds, barns, lilies, grass, a plank, dogs, pigs, a door, a stone, a fish, a snake, a gate, a road, wolves, sheep, figs, thistles, trees, fruit, rock, fire, sand, wind, and streams. Boys and girls, wouldn't you have liked to listen to the Lord Jesus preaching? What a fascinating creature he was. How clear and memorable he could make the truth to anyone. Even more compelling than his word pictures were the way in which by his actions he illustrated truth. He went into a house and he turned jars of water into rich, sweet, joyful wine. He was teaching something. He came up to a leper whose diseased body no human hand had touched for years, and that pure hand reached out to that diseased body, and the leper felt the hand of Jesus on his body, and he was made clean. He was teaching something. And of all his actions, none is more dramatic than that recorded here in John chapter 13. It is the last night of his life on earth. Jesus, we're told in verse one, knew that the hour had come to depart out of this world. In less than 18 hours, his body will be hanging on a cross. Now, how's he going to spend the short time that is left to him? He's going to spend much of it with his disciples and for his disciples. And John gives us a double reason why he wants to spend this time with them. They were his own. And they were in the world. And because they were his own, he loved him. He loved them. And because they were still in the world, they needed him. His public ministry is over. He's gathered in the upper room for the last supper. And for the next five chapters of the gospel, about a quarter of the whole, he's teaching these men. He's preparing them for when he would leave. But this very special evening begins with most unpleasant tension. It begins very, very badly. Luke tells us in chapter 22, verse 24, that that evening a dispute arose among the disciples as to which of them was the greatest. It seems unbelievable. that on the night when their Lord was going to speak to them for the last time, they were arguing among themselves about prestige and status. It had happened at least twice before. These men were obsessed with status and being the big man and being in charge. And on that evening, they were still at it. Still angry with each other. Disputing and arguing. I'm more important than you are. Luke doesn't tell us when this dispute took place. But I'm as sure as I can be that it took place before the meal began. For it illuminates the passage. In Luke's account, it's placed after the meal, but Luke doesn't say it took place after the meal. And it's a very compressed account. And I'm sure it took place beforehand. A dispute regarding which was the greatest. And this quarrel cast a shadow over the beginning of the meal and soured everything. One of the basic duties of hospitality in the Near East was the washing of the feet. of your guests. The roads were rough, dusty, and stony. People wore open sandals. And when they came into a home, their feet were scratched and sore and dusty. And in every Palestinian home, the first greeting of a guest was the washing of the feet. Do you remember how in Luke 7, our Lord reproached Simon the Pharisee for his discourtesy and his hostility. He says, you gave me no water to wash my feet. And that was a really rude way to behave. And Simon had shown, as I say, great discourtesy to Jesus. And it was noticed you always washed the feet of your guests. Servants were there to do it. Now there were no servants here this evening, it was a private dinner. But apparently all the utensils had been left waiting. There was water, there was a towel, and there would be two basins. One to pour out the water and one to catch the water. And one of the disciples should have done this. It needed to be done. It was always done. before the meal started. Perhaps the youngest disciple, we're not sure, but someone should have done it. But no one was willing to do it. They were angry with each other. They'd been arguing, contending. So they sat there obstinately glaring at each other, their jaws set stubbornly. Me, wash, His feet? That character? He always wants his own way. He always wants the last word. He's always pushing himself forward. I'm not going to kneel down and wash his feet. And the other man's thinking the same. And the moments pass, and the moments pass. And they sit there like a group of spoilt children. And nobody is willing to take the place of the servant and do it. And eventually, the meal has to start without it being done. There's just a painful, tense, embarrassed silence. Nobody will do it. And the meal begins. The Lord had been observing. He'd seen everything. Suddenly, in the middle of the meal, He acts. And if you read the passage, it is really so clearly an eyewitness account. It's like a slow motion camera. You see the thing in slow motion. John lists seven actions and he pictures it with such artistry. Jesus rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments. You feel the tension starting to build. What's he doing? He took a towel, tied it round his waist. What's he doing? He poured water into a basin. Silence is electric. They are starting to look at each other. And he began to wash His disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped round Him. Imagine the atmosphere. How would you have felt if you had been there? What would you have been thinking? Imagine the burning cheeks and the embarrassment and the shame. I wouldn't do it. But the Master doesn't. He's doing it. The silence, one by one, disciple after disciple, washes the dirty, sweaty, dusty feet and dries them. Then the next disciple, and then the next disciple. And there's one disciple who cracks, who can't stand it, No prizes for guessing who it is. It's got to be Peter, hasn't it? Peter can't bear it. Lord. Oh, Lord. This isn't right. This is all wrong. This is upside down. Do you wash my feet? And he's a shame. to the very depths of His being. And He makes a horrified protest. Jesus insists and He completes the washing of the twelve of the twelve. And He returns to the table and He says, Do you understand what I have done for you? He says, and this is our text this evening in verse 15, I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. I've given you a model. I've given you a pattern for you to imitate, for you to implement. What I have done, you should do. What is the example? What precisely is he saying? We don't have to guess, He tells us. It's a double example. It looks backwards and it looks forwards. What I have done to you, what you also should do. It shows us our relationship to Him and our relationship with each other. It shows us Christ as our servant and we as His servants. It's an unforgettable, brilliant picture of both with an ethical punch that challenges us profoundly. So let's look at the first half of the example. As I have done to you, as I have done to you." And this brings us, you see, to the heart of who He is, and why He has come, and how He ministers, and how we can enter a relationship with Him. His hour had come, we're told, in verse 1, to depart out of this world to the Father. But how will He leave the world? How will he depart from this earth? He's approaching the cross, the lowest point of his earthly life, and this is an active parable of what is going to happen at the cross. Washing the feet was the most menial task in the ancient world. One of the Roman Emperor's Caligula who was at least two-thirds mad. A few years later than this decided to humiliate the Roman senators and he did so by ordering them to wash his feet. Nothing could be more humiliating. The rabbi said a Hebrew slave must not wash the feet of his master or put his shoes on him. You remember John the Baptist. Jesus is taking the very lowest place. Jesus is taking the very lowest place. It's a picture, of course, of the Incarnation, as He comes down from heaven and humbles Himself and takes a human body to Himself. But supremely, it's a picture of the cross. Here He kneels, semi-naked, a slave, washing filthy feet. And that's a prophecy. In a few hours, he's going to be stripped, degraded, humiliated and put to an open shame. He's acting it out. Do you understand this? This is what's going to happen in a few hours. I'm going to be humiliated. I'm going to be brought down. I don't want to read too much into it, but John likes double meanings and layers of meaning. And you might like to reflect sometime on verse 12. Is he saying something there? When he had washed their feet, he put on his outer garments and resumed his place, the place of honor, the place of headship. It was, says John, in verse 1, before the feast of the Passover. That afternoon, thousands of lambs had been slaughtered on the temple grounds, reminding the people how God rescued them from judgment as they sheltered under the blood of the innocent victim. And here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And to cleanse his people, he will have to stoop low. And he will have to go down. And he will have to go down very, very far, as we heard this morning. He will have to take their guilt on himself. He will have to be punished in their place. He will have to suffer shame. He will have to become a curse. He will have to experience God's anger to the full. to wash away their sins, as I have done for you." And Peter is embarrassed. And he says, you shall never wash my feet. And the Greek is exceptionally strong. We could paraphrase it something like this, no way never to all eternity. That's what Peter is saying. No way, never to all eternity. You're not going to wash my feet. Now, there were mixed motives here. We can't be too hard on Peter. Partly, I'm sure it was respect for his master, love for his master, a sense of his own unworthiness. Lord Jesus, you shouldn't be washing my feet. There's also pride here, isn't there? He thinks he knows better than his master. He thinks he can correct Jesus. He would rather be a giver than a taker. I wonder how you feel about Jesus serving you. In one sense, it's the best of news. In another sense, it's an admission that you're dirty. And it's an admission that you can't clean yourself. That's a very, very humbling thing. It's a very long time since we were babies and we were dirty. And we couldn't clean ourselves. And many of us may come to that again before the end. I read of an elderly English gentleman, a real gentleman, a military man, very proper, very dignified. The epitome of Englishness all his life. He had been an utter gentleman. And at the end he became physically incapable And he was taken to a hospital and he was cared for. And the nurses were wonderful. They were kind. They were sympathetic. But one day he said to his daughter, dear, he said, it's a terrible thing to have to be washed. To be lying there and to have to be washed. And we find it hard to come to that point. We have to give up our pride. We have to give up our sense of ourselves. People are more interested in a God whom they can feel good about serving. A God whom we can put in our debt. We can preserve our dignity. We can nurse our ego. We can share some of the credit. You can't come through Christ that way. The ego has to go. The dignity has to go. The sense of self-worth has to go. Jesus is gently remorseless. He says, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. This is the basis of the relationship. We have got to come to Him and say, Lord, I am filthy, and I am guilty, and I am helpless, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to make myself clean. Wash me, Savior, or I die. That's it. Acknowledging that and asking Him to cleanse us. My dear friends, here is where human beings encounter Jesus of Nazareth. Here is where we become one with Him and receive Him and what He has for us. He is many things. He is teacher to teach us. He is a Lord to rule us. But first and foremost, He is a Savior from sin. We preach Christ crucified. And I ask you this evening, have you submitted to the joyful shame of asking Jesus to wash you? to cleanse you, as I have done for you." Has He done that for you? Young people, has He done that for you? Have you come to the Lord Jesus and said, Lord, I know that I am dirty because of my sin. And I know I can't make myself clean. And only You can make me clean. And if I ask You, You will. as I have done for you. Oh, that every one of us here this evening could say in our hearts now, yes, thanks be to God, He has done that for me. He has washed me. And you see, the relationship doesn't end when we become Christians. It continues as long as we're on earth. We have to come to Jesus for cleansing. Poor old Peter, as he often does, jumps right from the frying pan into the fire. One minute he doesn't want to be washed at all, and the next minute he wants to be washed all over. Jesus is wrong in both times. I don't need this little washing. And then he says, No, it's far too little. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only. But also my hands and my head, I want the whole deal. If washing means having a share in you, I want washed all over." And he is misunderstanding. The Lord says, the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet. But is completely clean. And you are clean. Peter, I have already washed you. I washed you when you believed in me as Messiah and Savior. You're clean. All your sins are forgiven. But somebody who is bathed and is clean later on during the day, they'll wash their hands before a meal. We take a shower in the morning, but we wash our hands before lunch and we wash our hands before supper. We're out in the world. We get inevitably soiled. We don't need converted again. We don't need washed all over again. But he says, you need to keep coming to me again and again. So that for the sins of that day, they may again receive forgiveness. You see, dear friends, on this earth, we never get beyond the need for daily cleansing. Never. We never reach a point where the cross of Christ isn't at the center of our experience. We need the gospel every day. We need the gospel every day. We need every day to say, Wash me, Savior. We never get away from having to repent and having to confess and having to seek forgiveness all over again. And you see the beauty and the balance of this teaching. It's not a morbid thing. It's not a despairing, depressive thing. Jesus says, You are clean. You are clean. Don't ever forget that. But we're in the world. And clean people have to walk dirty streets. And in the end of our lives, we have to pray, Our Father in heaven, Forgive us, forgive us our debts. As I have done for you, never forget, keep always at the forefront of your mind, the king of glory, kneeling as a servant with a towel. I've given you an example, but the example points also in the other direction. So secondly, We look at the words, that you also should do as I have done. That you also should do as I have done. I have washed your feet. You ought, he says in verse 14, to wash one another's feet. Now, of course, he's not meaning this with unimaginative literalness. kings and archbishops in Europe once a year ceremonially wash the feet of poor people. But that's an empty ritual which is far from the spirit of what Jesus is saying. Nor is he suggesting that we can somehow ourselves cleanse other people or make them clean. We can't. That's Christ's unique work. I think it's simpler. You also ought to wash one another's feet. He's speaking of humble service of our brothers and sisters. Be a servant. Put yourself out to help. Do for your brothers and sisters the routine, unglamorous, unpleasant things. which refresh and heal and enable. Don't be too proud to do the ordinary. You ought. This challenge is certainly needed by the disciples. These were self-centered, angry, pompous, self-important men. And our Lord speaks sternly to them. You call me teacher and Lord. And you're right. If I've washed your feet, should you not wash one another's feet? Verse 16. The servant is not greater than his master. But they were saying they were greater. They were unwilling to wash the feet. I wonder sometimes how much has changed. We pay lip service to humility and love and serving one another. And yet, friends, the ethos of modern evangelicalism is pervasively self-centered. It's all about me, my needs, my fulfillment. my satisfaction, what I get out of church, what suits me, what fits in with my ideas and my plans and my needs, and we're determined to have our own way, that my voice shall prevail, that my opinion shall be followed, that I will carry the vote, that I will get the majority, that the church will be painted the color that I want, that the arrangements will be made as I determine. And it is the antithesis of the servant with the towel. And we profess to be his followers. The slave with the towel. There was a shadow, wasn't there, lurking in the brightness of the upper room. There was a traitor there. We're told in verse 2 that the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him. Jesus said in verse 16, You are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray Him. I wonder, does He look into this building this evening and look at you all and say, You are clean, but not every one of you? For He knew. He knew. He says in the next verse, The Scripture will be fulfilled He who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me." And yet, not one of the other eleven had a clue who the traitor was. Not the beginning of an idea. Judas' sheep's clothing was of the finest texture and quality. He looked like a sheep. He looked like a sheep. Is there someone here tonight And you look like a sheep, you look and talk and act like a Christian, like a true believer. And yet you're still pursuing your own agenda for your life. Under a veneer of Christianity, your chief end is to glorify yourself and enjoy yourself forever. Is there a towel around your waist? We are certainly under the heaviest obligation. And obligation is the word that our Lord uses in verse 14. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought. That is a rather weak word in English. It is not in the least weak in Greek. It is very heavy and strong. You owe it. It's your debt. It's your solemn obligation, laying heavily on your conscience, to wash one another's feet. It's not one of these, well, I ought someday, I ought to do such and such a thing. I ought to write that letter. I ought to make that phone call. I'll get round to it. It's not like that. It's an overwhelming, pressing obligation. You ought to do it. You owe it to God. We have salvation because he humbled himself. We have eternal life because he died. We are kings and princes because he became a servant. And the gospel tells us that our whole lives should be shaped by the gospel. Our lives should be cross-shaped. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. and take up his cross and follow me. That's not some advanced level in Christianity. That's the ABC. That's the beginning. That's the basic self-denial. And if we don't do that, we're denying the Lord who bought us. You ought. Yet it's wonderful. There's more here than naked obligation. There's motivation. There's enabling. Duty is never enough. Oughtness is never enough. And this passage is full of references to the dignity of Jesus. To the exaltedness of Jesus. They're to show his condescension, certainly. They're to show how far he came down. But more than that, they're telling us that this was a man who was secure. Who was secure in himself. He was acting out of self-knowledge. He was acting out of fullness. He knew who he was. He knew His status. He knew His destiny. Verse 1, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father. Verse 3, He knew that the Father had given all things into His hand. He knew that. And John says he knew that he had come from God and was going back to God. This was not a weak man. This was not a needy man. This was not an insecure, defensive man. He was absolutely secure in God's love. He was free in himself to love and serve. He washed their feet. Put it this way. He washed their feet. not simply in spite of knowing who he was, but because he knew who he was. You see the difference? He washed their feet, not only in spite of knowing who he was, but because of it. You see, my dear friends, the arrogant people are insecure. That's what's wrong with them. They have to be seen to be first. They have to be recognized to be in the chief place. There's an emptiness in them. There's a hunger in them. They're not absolutely sure of themselves. They may bluster and boast and seem very strong and domineering, but inside there's a little, needy, frightened child. I'm not sure I'm worth anything. In this example, I am washed. I am clean from sin. My destiny is settled. My place in heaven is secure. It does not matter whether I am recognized on earth or not. It does not matter whether I am listened to or not. I can be a servant because I know who I am. I know who I am. You see, that is the security of the Christian. We know that we're going to God. We know that we've an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. We know that we're going to be rewarded by the Savior for everything we do. And that sets us free to serve out of fullness. That's always the New Testament pattern. You should do is founded on I have done. The imperatives are based on the indicatives. You ought to wash one another's feet. I ask you this evening, will you give yourself afresh to doing this? The Lord says in verse 17, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Literally, if you keep on doing them. Not just knowing about it, not just talking about it, but putting it into practice. Looking for opportunities to serve. To serve. Humbling yourselves. Giving yourselves. Forgetting about yourselves. Pouring out yourselves to help wherever you can. And especially Especially, and this is where we're anchoring it into this passage. These men were angry with each other. They were out of sorts with each other. And isn't it possible that for some here, it's a bit like the upper room? And maybe there are other people in this room and you're out of sorts with them. They've hurt you. They've offended you in some way. Members of your church, you meet them every week, but you're not really close to them. There's a little bit of resentment in your hearts. And it may well be that they were completely in the wrong and you're completely in the right. Will you wash their feet? I would say no. Don't like them. Can't forget what they said. Don't like what they did. I'll be polite to them. I'll not do anything against them. I won't wash their feet. Then you look down. You see Jesus. King of glory. He washed you. He washed you in His own blood. And He did it while you were a sinner. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were His enemies, while we hated Him, He poured out His life for us. Can we not find it in our hearts to wash one another's feet? My friend, if there's somebody in your mind at the minute, a fellow Christian, and things aren't as they should be with them, and you, I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to go home tonight and pray for them with all your heart that the Lord will bless them and be good to them and lift up his face upon them and give them joy. That's a beginning. That's a beginning. Pray for them. And if you keep praying for them, you'll find things you can do. You'll find ways of showing love, love affection. You see, last weekend my wife and I were staying in a hotel in Indianapolis. And we were guests in the hotel. And so we expected things to be as we wanted them to be. And we expected our needs to be catered for. We expected the bed to be clean and comfortable and the breakfast to be edible. people to tell us whatever information we required because we were guests, as it were, we were paying for it. And so it was. It was ideal. And then there were people working in the hotel. And they couldn't have those expectations. And if somebody was rude to them, well, they just had to put up with it. If somebody was a bit snappy, they couldn't afford to sulk. We're not guests. We're servants. We're servants. And yet many people come into churches as if they were hotels. And they're guests. And I expect to be pleased. And I expect to be satisfied. And if my needs met and my whims catered for, and if I don't get that, I'm going to complain to the manager. And if the manager doesn't listen to me, I'm going to leave. I'm going to go to another hotel. But if you were glad for the job and glad to be in the hotel, you just have to eat up whatever came your way, because you're a servant. You're a servant. And you see, out in the world, in the providence of God, many of us are not servants. And that's the way God has ordained things. And we can be men and women of influence. We can be employers. We can be bosses. And that's our calling. We exercise authority. We're called to exercise authority. But when you come in the door, you're not the big man anymore. You're a servant. You're a servant. You have a towel around your waist. And you're here to serve in the body of Christ. And that's the supernatural thing. To see people who in the world are gifted talented, the strong personalities, and serving glorifying God out in the world, the use of their gifts, and then in the church, the humbleness, the lowliness, and the servant spirit. You ought to do this to one another. What a difference it would make to our life together. What a witness to the world. for our churches to be known. Not only as churches that stand for the truth and are faithful to the gospel and preach the whole counsel of God, but people to say, you know, those people, the way they love each other and the way they serve each other, they never take offense with each other. They forgive each other. They're patient with each other. They're always trying to help each other. They're like Jesus. It doesn't need any outstanding ability to be a servant, just a willingness to kneel down and get dirty. I wonder who God's heroes are in this church. You should do as I have done for you. If you know these things, blessed are you, blessed are you. if you do them. And I think that's not just because you do them, but as you do them. Blessed are you in the very doing of them. It's not just you will be blessed because you've done them. You do them, and then afterwards, you'll be blessed. That's true. But also, as you do them, you will be blessed. Many of you will know of Dr. Robertson McQuilkin. He was president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary in South Carolina. A leading Christian academic, professor and preacher. A very extensive sphere of influence and ministry. And in the mid-1980s, his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. And Dr. McQuilkin made a decision. He says, my wife has looked after me all my life and now I'm going to give up all my responsibilities and I'm going to devote myself to looking after her. That is only fair. And he thought it would be a sacrifice. And he found it wasn't. Listen to what he says. It is more than keeping promises. It is more than being fair. As I watch her brave descent into oblivion, Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily, I discern new manifestations of the kind of person she is, the wife I have always loved. I also see fresh manifestations of God's love, the God I long to love more fully. He thought he was making a sacrifice. He made it gladly. He made it willingly. And he found it wasn't a sacrifice at all. For he learned far, far more of his wife and of the love of God and Jesus than he'd ever known. And I believe, friends, that as we kneel with the towel, we will make wonderful discoveries. And God will show us wonderful things and give us astounding blessings. I have given you an example. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life. Is there any way of being more like Jesus? Well done, good and faithful servant. Amen. Let us bow in prayer. Heavenly Father, We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your glorious Son, who came down from the heights of heaven to the very depths of Calvary and the grave, that we might be washed. And he washed us. And we who trust in him are clean. And we pray for any who may not yet have come to that place, that even tonight they may call on Jesus Christ, that they may be washed. and that He may do this for them. And, Father, we pray that You will keep us close to the cross, daily seeking cleansing. And we pray, O God, that You will fill us with a Christlike humility, that You will strip from us all self-importance and pompousness and self-will and make us a very gentle, humble people, a people who are tender-hearted, people who are ready to kneel and to serve. And we pray, O God, that as we serve one another, we may know the joy of Christ. And Father, we pray especially for people in our various churches who may be disregarded, who may not catch anyone's attention, but who are true servants. We pray for your true servants here tonight, that they may see your smile, that they may feel your commendation, your hand upon them, that they are not overlooked, that they are not disregarded, that they are not unappreciated, that you will say to them, well done, good and faithful servant. We pray in the name of Christ and for his sake. Amen.