A Foot washing Attitude

Sermonette given by Benny Butler 19 March 2016

We’re getting along in the year. It’s hard to believe that we’re this close to the spring Holy Days, but very soon baptized members of the Church will gather to take the Passover that will be almost exactly a month from now, I think. 

So we’ll talk about one aspect of that today.  This time of the Passover is very serious and is somewhat a solemn time that we take the unleavened bread, which represents Christ’s brutalized, beaten body. And we also take the wine, which represents Christ’s blood that was shed for all of us.

We take the bread and wine realizing that it pays the penalty for our sins, so that we don’t have to die as payment for our sins. The payment for sin, the wages of sin is death.  So we take that sacrifice as it pays that penalty so we don’t have to die for the sins committed.

We take the Passover as a recommitment to God and Jesus Christ realizing the tremendous that was paid on our behalf.

But you know, brethren, we do also do something else very meaningful on the Passover. We wash each other’s feet. We have the foot-washing service. Now that doesn’t sound very sophisticated, does it?  J to have a foot-washing service, Why?

You know, I don’t know what other mainstream do now. I know years ago they probably had foot-washing services. I’ve heard of them from years past. I don’t know what they do now, if they still do them.  You don’t hear much about it, doesn’t create a lot of excitement like the healing campaigns and praise worship that is very popular now and so forth. It wouldn’t create a lot of attention, a lot of excitement if they put up a big sign “Foot Washing Service today.”  You probably wouldn’t get a lot of visitors coming to that. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, does it?

But when you realize, brethren, the spiritual significance of the lessons Christ taught the disciples by foot-washing, as well as you and me on that Passover evening, it becomes clear that without the foot-washing attitude – that’s what we’re after – it’s what God is after – it’s what Christ is after – is our attitude.

That foot-washing service reminds us of an attitude we’re supposed to have year round. And it’s that serious, brethren, it’s that profound. That part of the Passover service is that profound.

Let’s get started by reviewing what Christ did on that Passover evening.  If you’ll turn over to Luke 22.

Luke 22:14-16 And when the hour was come, he (Jesus) sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. (15) and he said unto them, With (fervent) desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: (16) for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

Now Christ had many things to say to them, didn’t he? He wanted this time with them because he loved them immensely, tremendously. He wanted to remind them of the many things he’d been teaching them from the very beginning of his ministry.

What if you knew, brethren that you wouldn't’ be around but just a few more hours? Wouldn't you want to gather your children around, your family around?  Wouldn’t you want to impart to them the things that you know will be good for them, that will help them in their lives? Perhaps your friends, your relatives? You’d want to gather them around.  You’d want to tell them how much you love them, you’d want to impart to them the most important things you know that would help them along in life.

You’d want to remind them of the lessons you want them to remember and that’s what Christ did. As they were eating the Passover meal, he does something very dramatic and very strange. At least it seemed like it at the time. It seems like it today, to some people

John 13:1   Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

That would be a nice thing to hear your children or friends or whoever, say. That you loved them to the end, wouldn’t it?

John 13:2-4 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; (3) Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; (4) He rose from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. (5) After that he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

In the middle of the meal, he gets up, he takes off his outer robe, and he wraps himself with a towel, pours some water into a basin, and actually begins, Christ begins to wash their feet. And that was something that was unheard of for the day.

Well the custom was, a good host would provide water for his guests to wash their own feet. Perhaps, there may have been times when a certain guest would have a servant do that….I’m not quite sure about that. I tend to think that that was not so much the custom as providing the water for the guests themselves to wash their own feet.

They would have gotten very hot and dusty in the open-toe sandals that they wore in those days.  Washing with cool water would feel very good. But to ask the host to wash with water their dirty feet.  That wouldn’t even have been heard of.

But Jesus was using a dramatic example to drive home a lesson that he had been teaching them all throughout his ministry. The lesson didn’t begin here, this sort of put the stamp on it…the emphasis on it.  But he had been teaching this same lesson all throughout his ministry. As an example:

Matthew 22:34-40 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. (35) Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, (36) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

These two commandments encapsulate, brethren, the intent of all of His commandments…love toward God and love toward neighbor.

He’s teaching them here, the same thing that he was teaching them at the very end. He was teaching the way of self-less-ness. To turn the attention away from self and put our attention on others. These are the things Jesus taught that he wanted them to remember. To love through obedience from the heart and love others by following the example of Christ. Let’s look at some more of those examples.

Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

That’s what the dispute was amongst the disciples. They were carnal, they were human beings, and that’s the way of the world today, and that’s the way the world was then and that’s the way the disciples were.

They wanted to know who was the greatest. Who was going to be the greatest.

Verse 2:  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

Verse 3: and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Verse 4: Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  

Holding a little child, he used that child as an example of how they should be and what they should grown in.

Verse 4: Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  (5) And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

He’s warning here against self-exaltation, isn’t he?  He is saying; humble yourself like this little child. Be willing to lower yourself for the sake of others. That’s what he’s teaching. That’s what he taught his whole ministry.

Matthew 20:20-22 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. (21)  And he said unto her, What wilt thou? (What do you want?) She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. (22) But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?  They say unto him, We are able.

They said, Yeah, we’re able…we’ll do it. Not having a clue what they were answering to.

Verse 23  And he said to them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (24)  And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. (25) But Jesus called them unto him and said,

Here he is, teaching the same lesson --

Ye  know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. (26) But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (servant); (27) And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: (28) Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Same lesson. Very same lesson.

Luke 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, (28) Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (29) And unto him that smiteth (strikes) thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. (30) Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. (31) And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. (32) For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. (33) And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do eve the same. (34) And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. (35) But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. (36) Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

This is the lesson Christ was teaching them on that Passover night. Yes, he wants us to demonstrate humility on Passover. And as we kneel down in front of someone and we put our hands in the water, and we put our hands on someone else’s feet, it’s a demonstration of that humility and we do it to humble ourselves before we take the symbols of the New Testament Passover, of the bread and the wine.

But so much more, brethren, foot washing is so much more than just a quaint little tradition that we do once a year and then we forget about it. So much more, it’s actually a way of life that Christ is teaching. He’s teach his disciples, he’s teaching you and me as well to follow his example forsaking the desire to be served and taking up the practice of serving others.

John 13:6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: (as he’s going around washing the feet of the disciples) and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? (a little bit of a reluctance for Christ to do this)

Verse 7:  Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

As I said before, brethren, he’s not only teaching them the once of the year ritual to be performed at Passover, he’s teaching them not only a new life, but a radically new way of life.  Nobody’s ever heard of this kind of life before. Radical to the world they lived in, and brethren, even more radical to the world you and I live in today. But he says you’ll be happy if you do this.

He told Peter, what I do now you don’t understand, but you will after this. When the Holy Spirit comes, you’ll understand these things. God will give you the understanding I’m teaching you now through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. And he says, you’ll be happy if you do these things. And today, brethren, he’s teaching you and me that same lesson he taught the disciples so many years ago.  He’s calling on us to live a new way of life, a radically new way of life.  It’s the foot-washing way of life.

Now, the last 12-16 hours of Jesus’ human life were probably the most intense, the most dramatic, the most spiritually challenging in history. The overwhelming pressure he felt in the garden, when he prayed Father, if there’s any other way, if there’s any other way, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done. The sadness perhaps he felt in saying goodbye to his friends and being betrayed, being falsely accused, being publically humiliated, being scourged and being hung on the stake, being brutally murdered.  An innocent man. But he did that, brethren, out of tremendous love for you and me.

Now, knowing that, knowing what all he went through, knowing the pain and the suffering and the anguish and the love he showed for us, what kind of response would that demand of you and me?  What kind of response does that demand from us?

Acts 2:36 This picks up part of Peter’s passionate sermon and kind of sums it up.   

Acts 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Verse 37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

What shall we do? That was their response. What shall we do, we should have just as zealous and just as sincere a response when we take the Passover. Father, what do you want me to do?

When we bring to mind again the sacrifice of Christ, how brutal and cruel it was, how much love for us he demonstrated through all of it. We should be cut to the heart, too, shouldn’t we? And it should bring us to the point where we say God, what do you want me to do? What shall I do?

Paul said in

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread.  (24) And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (25) After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

We take the bread and the wine, brethren, as a symbol of our renewal of commitment to the way of life that he calls us to. We commit to Christ our understanding and our promise that we will give up our life and become the new man that we’ll talk about more during the Pentecost season.

We’ll give up our life so that he can live in us and we can strive to become that new man with Christ living in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we know, brethren, we’re hopeless if not for the shed blood and broken body of Christ. That sacrifice of Christ demands a response from us if we understand it.

And the only acceptable response is our commitment to live a life as symbolized by the foot-washing attitude that he showed us there on that Passover evening. It’s an attitude of selflessness, not self-ish-ness. It’s the way of give not the way of get.

Brethren, the world, we can see it every day. The world is in the process of rapidly destroying itself and it’s because it’s living that way of get. Satan’s way. The world’s destroying itself. You know, the family is the most basic and essential building block for a stable society and that is, that is crumbling right before our very eyes because of that attitude of get.

Time was when most every family there was a father in the home who sacrificed himself for the safety and well being of the entire family and that’s not the case anymore, is it? Absentee fathers, promiscuous mothers and children who grow up lawless: it’s very, very sad. And you see it on the streets in the news every night. And God’s people can’t be a part of that trend, we have to be the salt and the light to the world, living the foot-washing attitude throughout our daily lives.

It all starts with that attitude, the foot-washing attitude; the attitude that says I will subjugate myself, I will subjugate my own will, for the good of other people using wisdom and knowledge God has given us to do that. 

Let’s look at some of Paul’s admonitions concerning this attitude, the foot-washing attitude.

1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own, but each the other’s well being.

Totally contrary to what we see in the world today, isn’t it? Sadly, I think this is a lesson that the Church of God has had some trouble hanging on to.

Let no one seek his own, but each the other’s well being. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Charity (Love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunted not itself, is not puffed up, (5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (6) Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) beareth all things, believeth all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Notice what it says in verse 5: love does not seek its own. And I fail in that, daily almost. I don’t put myself up as an example of how this is done, but Christ did. That’s something we should follow. His sacrifice demands this response from us.

Philippians 2:1-7 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels (affection) and mercies, (2) fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (3) Let nothing b done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Same lesson that Christ taught on that Passover evening.

(4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

He didn’t come as just a man, a regular man walking the streets, he came as a servant. He came as a bond-servant. In the likeness of men. You see, brethren, this attitude Christ taught all through his earthly ministry, and it’s the attitude he wanted them to remember on that Passover night; it’s the attitude he wants us to remember on that night and year round.

He taught the same lesson to Paul later on. It’s a foot-washing attitude. And no one with any other attitude will be in the Kingdom of God. We struggle with this flesh and we keep having to go back to the Throne of Grace to ask for forgiveness for a variety of things, multitude of things. And God forgives and we keep struggling and we keep struggling, but what God has to know is that we build a track record of an attitude that when we shed this flesh that we’re not going to reject Him like Satan did. We’re not going to rebel against Him when we shed all the pulls and the influences of this flesh.

We’re never going to be perfect. We’re never going to be without the need for Christ sacrifice in this life and this flesh.  But what He has to know is that when we shed this flesh, and receive eternal life, and the glorified spirit body that he knows that we would never, ever, ever, ever, ever rebel ever again.

All this is very sobering. There will be no self-exaltation in the Kingdom. There will be no “me first” in God’s Kingdom. There will be only mutual submission and cooperation; and it will be done gladly.  It will be done cheerfully because when Christ said “Happy you will be if you do these things.”  These things cause happiness. For everybody.

But there will be eternal worship and adoration toward God, the Father and Jesus Christ.  So brethren, we have to use the time we have now to overcome the self.

A selfish attitude or a self serving attitude is at the root of all sin. It’s the first recorded sin of rebellion.  What did Lucifer say?

Isaiah 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Notice all the “I’s.”

Verse 14:  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.

His heart was set on his desires, not on the desires of God, not on the plans of God had for him, but what he wanted.  What “I” wanted.

What about the woman in the garden?  Eve, in the garden; she saw the fruit that was pleasant to look at. Like the serpent said, it looked delicious. And the serpent said, “it will make you wise.”  She took it. She wanted it.  “I want it!” she said. It was all about what she wanted.

We could go on and on.  What about the sin of David with Bathsheba? We don’t need to get too graphic about that. But what about that sin?  It was what HE wanted. He didn’t regard what was best for Bathsheba or Uriah or the children that would be produced from that sin.

The point is, brethren, that sin, ALL sin, has its root in selfishness. But Jesus taught just the opposite with the foot washing service. It’s the same lesson he taught throughout his ministry. He taught the foot-washing attitude. It is the attitude, brethren, that says that I will subjugate myself for your best interest.

And when it’s practiced, like it will be in God’s Kingdom, and like it should be in our homes and in our churches today, in the Churches of God today, everyone shares that same joy.

So, brethren as we take the Passover this year, and in the years to come, let us resolve ourselves to make that response, to have that response to the tremendous love God’s shown us through He and Jesus Christ.  Our response should be living out the foot-washing attitude throughout the rest of our lives.