John 13:12-17
{Prayer}
Some bad pastor biblical jokes for you. Which athletic sport do you think is the most biblical? Some people say baseball because … Genesis 1 starts with, “In the big inning”. Others though say that football is found in the early chapters of Genesis because it describes the “first down” of the fall into sin. But I’m going to assert that volleyball is the truly biblical sport because … the Bible states that “Joseph served in Pharaoh’s court” (Genesis 41:46). Volleyball is a sport in which it is essential to serve, which also happens to be a biblical virtue.
Now obviously I’m trying to tell a funny here. Serving a ball in volleyball is a very different thing from serving others in Christian love. But one thing is true … serving is important in volleyball and the Christian life. Service is crucial in volleyball because it is the first hit of the ball that gets the play into motion. You won’t win in volleyball without serving well. Likewise, service is crucial in the Christian life because that is what God calls us to do. You won’t prevail in Christian discipleship without serving well.
To serve in Christian discipleship is to work for the benefit of others. It means to assist others and provide for them. Service is an act of caring for someone else and doing what is best for them. A server in a restaurant delivers your food and drink to you. A public servant carries out their responsibilities for the good of the people. Those who serve in the military offer their lives to protect our nation and our freedoms. To serve means to give of yourself and your abilities in order to improve the lives of others. Paul in Philippians puts it this way: “in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others” (2:3b-4).
Jesus in our gospel reading from John 13 calls his disciples, and us, to serve. He demonstrated this for them in a very concrete and real way. On the Thursday night of Holy Week, the night in which Jesus would give us the Lord’s Supper, the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus, were told “got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:4-5).
This was a pretty astounding act for Jesus to do. The washing of feet was the responsibility of the lowliest servant. At a special meal, usually the lowest-level servant boy would be at the door to wash the feet of the guests as they entered the host’s home. But at this meal, the Lord himself, the host of the meal, He bends down to wash the feet of His disciples! Is it any wonder that Peter was like, “no way Jesus, you aren’t washing my feet!” But yet Jesus does. And after washing all of their feet, Jesus drives home the lesson. Listen to our sermon text again.
“12 When {Jesus} had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
So Jesus calls us to serve. Washing others’ feet was just a select illustration of a much broader principle of serving others. Several other times in Jesus’ teachings He had called His disciples to a life of service. Today, He calls you and me to serve as well.
The problem though, is that we don’t naturally serve well. Our sinful nature leads us to do the exact opposite. Our sinful nature causes us to be self-centered, to focus inward, on me, myself, and I. The very character of sin is to be selfish, to be self-serving. When a parent asks a child to set the table, the kid’s sinful nature is to complain. When a classmate or a co-worker needs help with an assignment or project they are struggling with, the sinful nature is to avoid offering help because that would mean extra work. When an elderly person needs assistance getting to and from the doctor’s office or the store, our sinful nature comes up with other reasons why we’re busy or just can’t help.
But while we may not be willing to serve others, we expect others to serve me, to serve us. A husband expects his wife to do all the housework inside the home. A wife demands that her husband jump at her every beck and call. A classmate or coworker takes the easy task and assigns the difficult or more demanding ones to others. All of these cases reflect the reality that, by our own impulses and because of our sinful nature, we would much rather be served than to serve.
And yet this is precisely why Jesus came to earth. His mission was to rescue self-serving sinners and remake them into selfless servants. Jesus said about Himself: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
The very night in which Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He was arrested according to God’s plan. The very next day, on Good Friday, Jesus’ own feet were washed in the blood He shed while He was nailed to the cross, again, according to God’s purposes. It was Christ’s mission to be the Suffering Servant which Isaiah talks about. Jesus made the ultimate service by giving His life to ransom, to buy back self-serving sinners like you and me from our sin.
The apostle Paul says that Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” and “he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-8). By His sacrificial death, Jesus has ransomed us, bought us back! He literally paid the penalty for our sin! As you come to Him confessing, repenting of your sin, know that your selfishness, your self-serving behavior is forgiven. In His mercy, you are pardoned, you are set free of your neglect to serve others as God has demanded.
Being set free, in view of God’s mercy you are renewed to serve. By Christ’s suffering service on the cross, you are freed from your sin. By the purifying of the Holy Spirit, you are remade into willing servants who live to bless others.
A story is told of an American man who observed the ministry of Mother Teresa. You may remember that in twentieth century, back in the mid to late 1900’s, Mother Teresa served the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. She cared for the sick and desolate in the city streets. This man watched as the diminutive nun, Teresa, embraced a leper in the gutter and cleaned his leprous wounds. In disgust, this man declared, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” Hearing these words, Mother Teresa looked up at the American and replied, “Neither would I. But I would gladly do it for Christ.”
Mother Teresa served this leper, and others in desperate need, in view of God’s mercy. She served them for Christ, because Christ had served her by giving His life. It is the same reason that you and I should serve others. We serve them because of Christ. We serve them for Christ. He is the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for us. He is the one who knelt down to wash the disciples’ feet and who was lifted up on the cross to cleanse us from sin. He is the one who told us: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:15-17
And so, knowing these things, we do them. In view of God’s mercy to us in Jesus, we serve in mercy the needs of those around us. In view of God’s mercy in Christ, we follow the example of Christ the Suffering Servant. Echoing the words of Mother Teresa, we do it not for a million dollars, but we gladly do it for Christ. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Savior, now and forever. Amen.
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