Called to a Life of Service

Brethren, today I've used the Life Application Commentary Series as well as the Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary for the preparation of the sermon. The date is Passover evening, 31 A.D. Jesus Christ knew that one of His disciples had already decided to betray Him. Another would deny Him by the next morning. Even this night, they would all desert Him. In the next hours, they would repeatedly display ignorance, laziness, and lack of trust. That evening, Passover evening, 31 A.D., was indeed a story lot that gathered in that upper room with Jesus to Christ. Christ had every reason, in one sense, thought as we do, every reason to want to reject that group, to be disappointed in that group, because all that He was about to do in the next few hours, what kind of appreciation that they seem to have for all of that.

You know, if you put yourself in the sandals of Jesus Christ, what would your thinking be on that evening? If you knew that in a few hours, you would be so tortured that you would be unrecognizable. I think that most of us in this room, if not all of us in this room, might be irritable. We might want to lash out. We might want to say, don't you understand what I'm going to do for you in the next few hours? And here you are, and you've been just squabbling about who's going to be the greatest, and this and that and the other.

I think many of us would have our minds totally centered on ourselves. You know, Jesus Christ didn't do that. Jesus Christ had His mind and His heart and His thoughts centered on them. As we prepare for the Passover this year, we need to ask ourselves, how are we doing in following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? My point today is this, that the Passover reminds us that we have been called to a life of humble service. The Passover reminds us that we have been called to a life of humble service.

Let's begin our trek in discussing this by going over to Mark 10. Mark 10. Here we see some of the thinking of the disciples prior to this evening, prior to Passover evening. Notice where their minds are. Christ's mind is on teaching them, helping them, serving them, loving them.

What is their mind centered on? Mark 10. Then Jesus and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. He said to them, what do you want me to do for you? He said to Him, grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left hand in your glory. But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you ask.

Can you drink the cup that I drink with and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? And they said to them, we can. And Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink the cup that I drink. And with the baptism that I am baptized with, you will be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but for those whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased of James and John. So here they have an attitude issue. Now Jesus Christ is about to be horribly tortured, killed.

He is going to become sin for us. For the first time in His existence, He will be blocked from access to God because He became sin and God can't be with sin. Something that Jesus Christ had never experienced in all eternity to be separated from the Father. These fellows just simply had their feelings heard a little bit. Verse 42, Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

Yet they shall not be so among you, but who where desires to become right among you shall be your servant. Whoever of you desires to be first shall be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to serve, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus Christ came to serve. We need to ask ourselves, how are we doing as we examine ourselves this past over season?

How are we doing? Specifically, let's ask ourselves, how are we doing if those people who don't treat us so well? Those people who don't appreciate us? Those people who have done some harm to us? I don't know that anyone in this room has somebody who has tried to kill them, or wanting to turn them into authority so they would be horribly tortured.

I don't know that we know anybody in our personal experience like that. Jesus Christ did. He got down on His knees and humbly washed their feet. Follow us in mind. Let's go over to John 13. John 13 is a chapter that we go over every year at Passover. We will do it again this year at Passover.

It's been a while since I've gone through it in depth. I thought it would be good to just review this because there's so much here. John 13. Let's take a look at the first two verses. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from His world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And the supper of being ended, the devil, having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him.

Let's pause there for a second. Let's take a look at a little bit of a technical point here. In verse 1 it says, now before the Feast of the Passover. In verse 2 it says, then supper being ended, or my margin says, during supper. When you take a look at the context of those two verses, it shows that the foot washing took place just before the meal began. Of course, that would be logical. That's when the foot washing always would have taken place, before the meal began.

But we also see something else in these two verses. We see the fact that Jesus knew that His hour had come. We see the fact that He loved His own to the very end. And we also see, in verse 2, the working of Satan the devil, wanting to destroy His enemy. Enemy being Jesus Christ. Brother, in this Passover season, we need to understand those same three things. We need to understand that the hour for us has come. I don't care how alive you feel right now, how good you think your health is right now.

You never know. Tomorrow, in Manchester, Ohio, we're going to have a funeral service for a four-year-old little girl, Naomi Martin. Four years old. Beautiful little girl, but only was able to live four years. In the last, what has it been, last three weeks, we've seen in a sports section of the paper, young, rural, high school young men playing basketball, playing well, dropping dead from heart attacks. In one case here in Michigan, in western Michigan, I believe it was, young man, his team was undefeated.

The very last thing he was able to do, he made a basket, a winning basket for his team, and within minutes he had died. He had a problem with his heart that he didn't know he had. Here was a good athlete, raised on people's shoulders because of what he had accomplished that very night, and within a few minutes he was gone.

I think about a week later or so, another young man died the same way. Had a health issue he didn't know was there. Brethren, we don't know what's inside of our bodies. We don't know if we have an embolism someplace or who knows what. So our hour is always the hour. We're not guaranteed anything. Let's take a look at Romans. Put a marker here. We're going to come back, time and again, to Romans 13.

Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 verse 11. Romans 13, 11, And do this, knowing that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Every one of us in this room, well, not everyone, but most of us in this room have been a part of the church for a number of years.

And we are certainly closer to the return of Christ than we were when we first heard about the truth. But notice he also says it's time to awake out of our sleep. Is there somewhere in your life, is there somewhere in my life where we are sleeping spiritually? These are questions that we have to ask deep in our own hearts and minds. Verse 12, The night as far as spent, the day is at hand.

That's for us. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Now, if that's not a Passover of Days of Unleavened Breads scripture, I don't know when I see it. That we are to cast off the works of darkness. Are there works of darkness in our life? Are we really wearing fully the armor of light that we should be wearing? Those are questions that we need to ask ourselves. So we need to know that our time, our hour, is here. Life is very fragile. Life is very short.

Though Christ also said of Christ there in John 13, that he loved his own. Let's go to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now we see how Christ did that. But again, how are we doing along those lines? Laying down our lives for the brethren.

How well do we even know the brethren? Here in the Detroit church, what do we average? We average about 24 or 25, most Abbots. How well do we know the 24 or 25 among us? Do we know enough about one another where we know when one is hurting, when one has needs? These are questions we all can ask ourselves. But here it says that we are to lay down our lives for the brethren. Spend time with one another.

What's our lives with one another? Be there for one another. Certainly when we take a look at John 13 and verse 2 there, I'm not going to turn back at this moment, but we see that Judas is carried by Satan the Devil. Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 5 because we've got the same thing happening today.

There are people in the world motivated by Satan the Devil. We need to be careful. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8 where it says, Be sober, be vigilant, be on the lookout, because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Are we giving Satan an open door so he can come in and devour us? Years ago, a movie was made about a pair of lions. I believe the situation was in India.

My memory might be a little sketchy here, but a movie was made about these two lions. In India, a train was being constructed for a train. Workers on the site were being killed. The people who ran the train hired some hunters. Some of them were killed. They hired this one man who was a very famous hunter. They even had names for each of the lions. These things were so bold that they would come into the camp.

They could drag off a man to kill him and then eat him. They set traps for the lions. They weren't that successful. But it showed how powerful these animals were, how cunning they were, how they were able to sense when there was danger and traps laid out for them. Satan is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Let's not give him an open door.

Notice verse 9, resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. So there's a resistance movement we need to be a part of, resisting Satan and our lives. Let's read verses 3-5 as a block. We'll come back and analyze it. John 13, verse 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, and then wiped them with a towel with which he was girded. Here we see Jesus Christ, kneeling down before his disciples. Jesus the Christ, the one who created all things, the one who lived in glory and splendor and honor, in such a brilliance that we couldn't behold it and still live. Jesus Christ knew who he was, knew where he had come from, knew where he was going. Here you've got the Creator, Sustainer, King of the Universe, kneeling down before his subjects. Here you've got the Master, becoming the servant.

Here you've got the Lord, who can exercise all the power of the universe, kneeling down in front of his creation, kneeling down in front of those who were the lowest.

Jesus knew who he was, yet he was still willing to perform one of the most powerful services possible. Humility is a very powerful act. Here you've got an example of God himself, God in the flesh, kneeling down before his creation to wash dirty feet. Now, none of the disciples had thought of that. It was a common thing in the day for people to make sure feet were being washed. No one had thought of that. The other guys hadn't thought of that. Jesus Christ thought of that. Remember, here's the man who's about to be horribly tortured in just a few hours. His mind wasn't on that. His mind was, well, you know those guys are just arguing about who's going to be the greatest. And I'm only going to be with them in the flesh so long, just a matter of a few hours, I'm going to take the valuable time I've got left. And I'm going to work with these men yet one more time. And Christ is probably thinking, how many times have I discussed this with them, and they don't seem to get it? They've heard me speak. We've talked at the campfire in the evenings as we've been on the road. They've heard the sermon. Why don't they get it? Well, they weren't getting it. And Christ was being patient. He said, okay, fine. I will do something here that they are going to understand. So he knelt down and he washed feet.

And of course, this Passover season, all of us ask ourselves, how are we doing with that?

Who is there in your life that you right now would not kneel down and wash their feet?

I'm not talking necessarily about anybody here in the church.

You know, none of these fellows were baptized. You didn't know they had God's Holy Spirit in them yet. God's Spirit was working with them. Christ was with them. But they weren't members of the church. Christ was able to kneel down and wash all of their feet, despite all the issues that they had. I think that's a very powerful statement for you and I to contemplate. Let's go over to Luke chapter 22 and verse 24.

But there was also rivalry among them, as to which of them would be considered the greatest. Luke 22 and now verse 25.

The greatest that ever was in human flesh, Jesus Christ, came and served.

Over here in Philippians chapter 2, we see more of this thinking. Philippians chapter 2. And in verse 5, Philippians 2.5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

That's a scripture that we've read so many times in the past. We know that one by heart. But again, let's contemplate this. Let's think about this, and especially in the light of the upcoming Passover. Let this mind be in you, which mind are we looking at? Look at verse 3.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind.

With a Passover attitude, with a foot-washing attitude, let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you, verse 4, look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others. Jesus Christ on that Passover evening was looking out for the interests of others.

It was in their best interest to understand humility. It was in their best interest not to be vying for power, for them not to have the attitude, well, I'm going to be the greatest.

So Jesus Christ had to take the time to teach and explain these issues to them.

Let's go back now to John 13.

Now, let's take a look at another section of Scripture. This is a very important section of Scripture. You know, we sometimes think that chapter 13 of John is all about washing dirty feet.

And yet there's something here, all of it here is very spiritual, but there's something here that maybe we've not quite caught, and I certainly want to make sure that we see this.

Let's look at verses 6 through 11 as a block. Verses 6 through 11, verse 6.

So here you see Peter resistant to Jesus Christ kneeling down and washing his feet.

Christ says, well, you know, you don't understand now. You don't have the fullness of God's Spirit.

You'll understand later on after you do have more of the God's Spirit in you.

Right now you don't understand. Verse 8 Peter says to him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus asked him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

Brethren, verse 8 is a tremendously important principle.

A tremendously important principle. If we are not washed by Jesus Christ, we don't have a part with him. And we're not just talking about feet here.

We're talking about having our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.

If we don't have our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ, then we are not Christians. And if we are not Christians, we don't have that Spirit in its full. And if we don't have that Spirit, we can't serve it with the intent that God wants us to serve with.

Oh, we can do good works just like the world does. But we'll be limited in what we can do because we don't have God's Spirit, because we haven't been washed.

When Peter heard that, he said, verse 9, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And he said to him, He who was bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would be trained. Therefore, he said, You are not all clean.

Now, let's understand something about this section of Scripture.

Yes, we're talking about washing of feet, but we're talking about something even more powerful than the washing of physical feet.

That prerequisite for us to serve as Christ served is for us to be spiritually washed by Jesus Christ. We must be spiritually washed before we can become a part of Jesus, before we can be called Christians.

Now, as I said, Peter was hesitant. He was resistant. He was dragging his dirty feet.

Then I believe he began to see a little more clearly what Christ was talking about. Put a marker here in John 13. Let's go over to Titus chapter 3.

Titus chapter 3.

Here, Titus chapter 3 and in verse 3, 1 For we ourselves are also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

2 We once upon a time were carnal people, living the way carnal people bigger Dunk 3 But, verse 4, when the kindness and the love of God our Savior towards man appeared if Jesus Christ came to give his life as a ransom for all of us, Now notice verse 5. Yes, we have to be baptized. We have to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have to have that washing take place. Or we simply aren't of Christ. It's as simple as that. Over here in Hebrews 9, we'll be reading this Passover evening. Hebrews 9, verse 14, Hebrews 9, 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience? Now in my new King James it says, purge your conscience. But in my set of reference it says, cleanse, cleanse your conscience. Our consciences are cleansed. They're washed. By what we see earlier in verse 14. By the blood of Jesus Christ. And notice what happens when we are washed by that shed blood. It says that you are cleansed with your conscience from dead works to do what? To serve the living God. To have that foot washing attitude. To be a humble servant in the hands of God. But we have to be washed first. 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. And in verse 7, 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk into light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. It washes us. It cleanses us from all sin. From all sin. Brethren, we have to be washed by Jesus Christ.

There's no such thing as a partial cleansing. God doesn't just take care of a little bit of the dirt. He gets rid of all the dirt, as you and I repent before Him and ask to be forgiven.

All the dirt is eradicated. All the dirt is washed off. We are completely clean.

A good example of this is found over here in Psalm 51.

Again, none of this is new. We've read this any number of times. Psalm 51, Psalm updated. After he had committed the horrible sin of having Bathsheba's husband killed, so he can take Bathsheba and have a relationship with her that was certainly ungodly.

But he came to see how bad that was, how sinful that was, and he repented.

That's why he's a man after God's own heart. Because when he saw his sin, he may have sinned big time, but he repented big time. Notice what it says here in Psalm 51, verse 2.

Wash me. You're the same idea. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

A washing, a cleansing needed to take place. We drop down to verse 7.

Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Hyssop was a small plant, kind of had sponge-like qualities to it, a little abrasive, and people would use hyssop to clean things. Like today, we might have a sponge that has kind of a rough surface on one side, and we're doing dishes or pots and pans or something. We use that rough side to get off the material. It's hard to get off. Basically, hyssop was the same thing. What David is saying is, look, God, take me. Scrub me. Take whatever steps you need to get the dirt that is really deep down. Don't let any of that stay. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. We drop down to verse 9. Hide your face from my sins and blout out all my iniquities, and create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Create a clean heart? How? Through a washing, through a scrubbing, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Brethren, there's one other point that we need to understand here, and this is something for every one of us in this room. It's for every one of us in this room. You and I can't be clean just because we come to church and sit at church. We can't be clean just because our names are on a rollbook someplace. Talking about Len Martin and his family, years ago, Len gave us a sermon or a sermonette in that message over in Ann Arbor. He said, you're no more a Christian because you sit in church any more than if you sit in McDonald's, you're a hamburger. You can sit in McDonald's. It doesn't mean you're a hamburger. You can sit in church. It doesn't mean you're a Christian. Let's take a look at Ezekiel chapter 14.

There's something that God requires from each and every one of us, and that's a personal relationship with God. Don't care about how righteous those around you are, your friends, your relatives, whoever. Don't care that you come to church all the time. You go to the feast.

And I don't care how long you've been baptized. All of us have to have that relationship with God.

Just going through the round, just going through the motions, doesn't cut it with God. Here we've got in Ezekiel chapter 14 a discussion about the idolatry of Israel and the fact that God was going to have to punish Israel. Let's start here in Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 12. The Word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, when a land sins against me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out my hand against it, I'll cut off its supply of bread, send famine upon it, and cut off man and beast from it. Well, you know, we can ask ourselves in different areas of our life, have we been persistently unfaithful? Maybe as a rule of thumb, we've been fairly decent Christian, but are we allowing ourselves to slip in some areas, not really working too hard in some areas? Verse 14, Though these three men were, though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord. What we have here in verse 14, apart from Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, we have a listing of the three most righteous men who ever lived. Noah, the one who was able to go into the ark and be saved with seven other people, because he found grace in God's sight. Daniel, a man who was a part of two world ruling kingdoms and would not bend to the powers that be, thrown into the den of lions, he would do whatever it took he was going to do to be righteous before God, with God's help. Job, in a situation where Satan himself came to heaven and said, God, let me at him. God said, well, I'll let you at him, but you can't kill him.

The three most righteous men who ever lived. And yet, their righteousness didn't help their wives, their righteousness didn't help their kids or grandkids, their righteousness didn't help their friends or their business associates, their righteousness helped them. Verse 15, If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they empty it and make it so desolate no man can pass through because of the beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I lived says the Lord God, they will deliver neither sons nor daughters, or they would be delivered and the land would be desolate. Or if I bring a sword on that land and say, sword, go through the land that I cut off man and beast from it, even though these three were in it, as I lived says the Lord, Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only them themselves would be delivered. Or if I should send a pestilence into the land and pour out my fury upon it in blood and cut off it from man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I lived says the Lord God, they would only deliver neither son nor daughter, they would only deliver themselves by their righteousness. Of course, we talk about their righteousness and their righteousness in God, that God would help them with. That's to be understood.

So yes, we need a cleaning. We need to have a relationship. We go back to John chapter 13, just as Peter was kind of balking at what Christ was talking about, then he finally began to see some of it. We need to have that same kind of relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to allow him to clean us up. And then we need to do something about that after we have been cleaned up. And that's the story of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Here we are back in John chapter 13. Let's read verses 12 through 14. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. Here in verse, Christ asks a question in verse 12. In verse 13, it says, You know, you say that I am your Lord and Master. You know what? You're right. In verse 14, he says, If I am your Lord and Master, and you have washed what I do, you need to be doing the same things.

We drop down to verse 34 of John chapter 13. Verse 34 and 35. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Now, why is this a new commandment? He's really just reiterating what the essence of the Ten Commandments are. But the Ten Commandments were the letter of the law. Christ here is now talking about the spirit of the law. A new commandment I give, that you're going to love the way I love, not just a letter. It would include letter, but also spirit. That you love one another as I loved you. Verse 35. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

It's not a discussion about how much faith you have, or how much Bible knowledge you have. It's a matter of how much are you loving those around you, and serving those around you, and giving to those around you. Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10. Galatians chapter 6.

We are going to be discussing some earth-shaking happenings, I believe, in the next few years. There's going to be, there's going to come time of persecution. Very severe persecution.

We need one another. We need to be bonding now, so that we have one another to really empathize with in the future. But we can't do that if we're always so bound up in our own lives. We're doing our own thing. We come to church just before the beginning, we leave at the amen, or what have you, or we don't do anything other than what we do right here. We need to make time.

We need to give ourselves the opportunity to be with one another, and to do good.

Let's turn back one last time to John 13. John 13, we'll take a look at verses 15 through 17. John 13 verse 15.

For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.

Verse 16, Moreover, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. There's something here about knowing and doing. I don't know that we've got a problem with the knowing aspect of it. I think we have a great deal of the knowing end of it. How are you and I dealing with the doing end of things? The doing end of things. We take a look over here at Matthew 16 and verse 24. Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. If we want to be true disciples and follow Jesus Christ, it says we must deny ourselves. You know, you and I, as we feel we want to get back at people, lash out at people, give people a cold shoulder, refuse to talk to people, avoid people, things of that nature, as opposed to working with people and praying for people and so forth.

Those carnal issues that we have, that's not denying ourselves. When Jesus Christ kneeled down in front of those men that were going to deny him and betray him, he denied himself.

He didn't allow human nature to take hold of his thoughts and his actions.

He denied himself and says here he wants us to take up our cross.

The cross is an instrument of death, a slow death, a lingering death, a painful death. Christ wants us to realize that the old man in us, the old person, has to die. It's going to be a long process, a slow process, but that has to take place.

We need to take up our cross, crucify the old man with all of our ways that aren't of God, and then follow him.

Follow him.

Brethren, in John 13, Jesus Christ did not wash the disciples' feet.

To set an example just to show them, hey, be good to one another. That wasn't the idea.

The idea was he wanted them to realize that there was something far greater there, that we've been called to a life of humble service. Remember the context. They were debating among one another and arguing about who was going to be the greatest.

Christ said, well, if you really want to be great in God's eyes, and that's where it really matters, you want to be great in God's eyes, then you have to be a servant. You have to be humble. You have to have a foot-washing attitude.

Last scripture for today. Let's turn over to Luke 2.

Luke 2.

Luke 3.

Here we see Jesus Christ when he's 12 years old. His parents are going up for the Passover in Jerusalem. He goes up with them. Time to go home. They have a lot of respect for young Jesus, even though he's only 12 years old. Of course, back in those days, that probably had more stature than it would today. But even though he was a younger individual, they said, well, you know, he'll, and we don't see where he's, we don't know where Jesus is, but well, you know, he's, we trust him. He's with one of the relatives or he's with some of our friends. And so they took off. They took off. Verse 43. When they had finished the days as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother Mary did not know it. But supposing him to have been in a company, they went a day's journey and saw him among their relatives and acquaintances.

Where's our kid? So when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him.

How many of us, his parents here, what's going through our minds at that point? Where's my boy?

So now it was after three days, they found him in a temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers. So when they saw him there, they were amazed. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously. We were worried about you. Where were you? And he said to them, Why is it that you sought me? Did you not know? I must be about my father's business. Brethren, we must be about our father's business. Our father's business, Christ's business, was to be a humble servant. His business was to wash feet.

Regardless as to how people treated him, he was to wash feet. This Passover season, as you and I think about our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, let's remember the example of Jesus Christ. Let's remember that we too must be about our father's business. And it's not just that we are about our father's business when the times are good. Christ did it when times are very unpleasant. He was about ready to be tortured to death. He just wasn't about his father's business to those who were good to him. He was going to do it for those who were going to betray him and leave him and even swear and say they never even knew him. Jesus Christ was going to get his hands dirty. He was going to set the example. He was going to wash feet. So this Passover season, let's ask ourselves, do we have the same attitude? Let's pray that we can be where God wants us to be.