John 13:12-20

Notes:

1. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand His example
1. He was their Lord and teacher
2. He had washed their feet
3. There was no excuse now; they should wash each other’s feet/serve each other
4. Principle of greatness
2. Exception
1. Jesus excluded at least one of the disciples
2. Basis: He knew the ones He had chosen
3. Basis: Fulfillment of Scriptures
3. Jesus foretold to help future belief that “I AM”
4. Receiving the sent one(s) indicates reception of the sender

 

Jesus makes clear what has already been noted above: What our great Lord and teacher has done, we disciples cannot be “above” doing. Jesus expects His disciples to serve each other. It is interesting that, unlike baptism, which Jesus never performed on others (though he commanded baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Matt. 18:18-20), this foot washing ceremony that Jesus both performed and commanded has not become a church ordinance. Why do we not wash each other’s feet today? Probably because the disciples understood correctly that Jesus intended this to be a command of mutual service rather than of actual foot-washing. Perhaps not, but this seems reasonable.

If so, here’s one implication. One of the most important ways that Christians can serve each other is by reminding each other of Christ’s words and teachings – the gospel. That’s why it is important that we meet together for church. And Sunday school. And community groups/small groups/whatever they’re called in your area. That’s why it’s important that Christians get together as friends at each other’s houses – not only for amusement and enjoyment purposes, but also to remind each other of Christ’s words, whether for encouragement, counsel, or (when needed) rebuke and correction. That’s why my personal devotions are now on a blog – personal devotions are not meant to be personal, but to be served to others. A blog is the LEAST personal way to do this, but it is one way. I do my best to encourage believers around me when my devotions seem to relate to struggles they’re having or to activities they’re doing. We fill up on Christ’s word as often as possible so that we can share His teachings, serving other believers (and also unbelievers, encouraging them to believe Him!).

Jesus did not expect all of the disciples present to live this way, though. Why? Because such living would not be good? No! It was specifically because Jesus knew that He had one disciple who simply would not live this way, but would instead betray Jesus. Jesus had included this disciple so far so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. This exception does not apply to today’s believers (unless we want to end up the way Judas did). All other disciples are expected to follow Jesus’ example of mutual service.

Notice that Jesus explained to His disciples why He was telling them about His future betrayal and death: He wanted them one day to believe. They didn’t fully understand at this point, so they couldn’t believe. Perhaps they wanted to; perhaps not. But one day they would remember that Jesus had predicted His own betrayal and death, and that He had done so specifically so that they would believe that Jesus was “I AM,” God Himself. Jesus was serving His disciples by enabling their future faith. His predictions should perform the same service for our faith. Jesus predicted His own betrayal and death; later He was betrayed and died. Surely we can believe His claim to be God!

Jesus also claimed to have been sent from God. And He was sending the disciples to make this claim to others. So long as the disciples were faithful to their Lord, those who received them would be receiving Jesus, and those who received Jesus would be receiving His Father. The disciples themselves, by receiving Jesus, could know that they had a right relationship with the Father. What great encouragement for us! When we don’t see God and we struggle with knowing whether our relationship with Him is right, we can examine our relationships with other believers – people we know to be following God. If we love, appreciate, welcome and obey them and their words – whether encouragement, teaching, or rebuke – then we can know we have a relationship with the Father! But if we reject the words of God that they teach (especially if we have checked in the Scriptures and found out that God really teaches what they claim), we can know that we are rejecting God Himself and that we ought to repent or expect terrible judgment. There are very practical ways of examining our relationships with God, ways more helpful than how we feel about ourselves or how distant we feel God is! One of those ways is how we relate to other believers! Isn’t that helpful?

 

Father, there was so much here. Help me to follow Christ’s example as a faithful disciple. Help me to trust Jesus more fully because I see that He knew about His betrayal and death in advance – He must be the One He claims to be! Help me to evaluate my relationship with You by the way I receive Christ and His disciples, and to be comforted!

 

John 13:6-11

Notes:

1. One of the disciples whose feet Jesus washed was Simon Peter
1. Simon Peter was hesitant
2. Jesus understood his hesitation, but reassured him that he would understand afterwards
3. But Peter decided it was too much and refused to allow Jesus to humble Himself so much
4. Jesus gave Peter an ultimatum: allow Me to wash you or you can have no claim to Me.
5. Simon’s choice was obvious: Then wash all of me!
6. Jesus: You only need your feet washed when the rest of you is clean to be completely clean.
7. Jesus: You (disciples) are clean.
8. Jesus: But not all you disciples are clean.
9. Point: For Jesus already knew the one who was betraying Him.

 

Although Jesus was washing part (the feet) of His disciples, the principle was that the rest of them had to be clean, too, for complete cleanliness. In the physical realm, that meant that the rest of their bodies had to be already clean; in the spiritual realm, it meant that their reception of Jesus had to be complete. The one who was planning to betray Jesus had already rejected Him, though his rejection was not yet clear to others. So even though he seemed to love and agree with Jesus, he was not spiritually clean. His outward reception of Jesus’ words and authority was only a “partial” spiritual cleansing. This disciple would not ultimately share in Jesus’ blessings.

 

Father, continue to remind me of these truths to help me make the right inward choices. May I not pretend to receive Your words, the words of Christ, but be against You in my heart. I know I am prone to wander, but may my wanderings never become rebellion. May my heart be Yours entirely so that when I “get my feet dirty” by negligent and sinful wandering, Christ’s cleansing of my feet makes me entirely clean, acceptable to You.

 

A side thought brought to mind by this passage: Jesus never baptized people as far as we know. He didn’t even baptize His own disciples. But many of them had been baptized by John, who prepared the way for Jesus. They had repented of their sins; they were committing their lives to God. Could it be that Jesus’ washing of their feet indicates that their former baptism was a partial cleansing, but that He completes their baptism? This is conjecture, so if you’re reading this, don’t take it too far without A LOT of humble study.

 

John 13:1-5

Notes:

1. Before the Feast of the Passover

                                                              i.      Jesus knew that His time had come to leave the world and return to the Father

                                                            ii.      Jesus had loved His own who were in the world, His disciples

                                                          iii.      Jesus continued to express His love to the end; He expressed His love completely; there was no time His love was not expressed to His disciples.

2. During the supper

                                                              i.      The devil had already put it into Judas Iscariot’s heart to betray Jesus

                                                            ii.      Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands

                                                          iii.      Jesus knew that He had come from God

                                                          iv.      Jesus knew that He was returning to God

                                                            v.      Jesus got up from the supper, set His clothes aside, and wore a towel

                                                          vi.      He poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, wiping them with the towel He wore

 

John 13:1 could possibly refer forward to Jesus’ activity of washing His disciples’ feet. But John specifically says that Jesus’ love in verse 1 was before the Passover feast. Perhaps John is alluding to what Jesus had just been doing, urging people to trust His teachings because they came from the Father. Jesus wanted people to have eternal life, and it was totally loving of Him to teach them how to obtain a relationship with the Father all the way to the end of His earthly ministry. Either way, we clearly see Jesus’ love continuing to the end.

 

But in John 13:2, we see what happened during the supper. Jesus knew that the Father was glorifying Him and had given all things to Him. He knew that He had come from God and would soon return to the Father. But even knowing His own glory, Jesus chose to serve His disciples at that last supper. He wore only a towel, and He washed their feet.

 

Father, no one deserves honor and glory more than Jesus. I certainly don’t. But I often want others to serve me. I want my needs met, as though I am glorious and deserve such service. Forgive me for claiming such glory and honor. Help me to remember that I do not deserve such recognition. Help me to serve Jesus gladly, recognizing His glory. And help me to serve His people gladly, recognizing that in doing so I am serving the glorious body of Christ. And help me to serve unbelievers gladly when doing so glorifies Jesus and opposes Satan; help me to serve them by pointing them toward Jesus, who deserves all of our service.

 

Thank you for sending us such a humble Savior and Lord to remind us and convict us of our pride – to convict me of my pride. Teach me humility.

 

"Hit me!"

Sometimes two-year-olds are a little strange. Yesterday I was correcting Emma for wildly swinging her arms and almost hitting Michael. “Emma,” I said, “you could hurt Michael if you hit him! You don’t like to get hit, do you?”

 

She looked up at me with sincerity brimming from her eyes. “Yes, I do!” she said clearly. “Hit me! Like this!” And she smacked her head. I said, “No, Emma, I don’t want to hit you.” But again she responded, “Hit me! Like this!” smacking her head repeatedly.

 

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

John 12:44-50

After we see how people responded to Jesus with unbelief and unfaithfulness, we hear again the challenging words of Jesus Himself.

 

“The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me. And the one who sees me sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness.”

 

The thrust of these words is that believing in Jesus means discerning the hand of God in what Jesus says and does. The questions surrounding Jesus have constantly been about whether He is leading people toward God or away from God. Those who don’t believe in Jesus believe that Jesus is leading people away from God. Those who do believe in Jesus see God’s power and glory at work in Jesus’ ministry. So Jesus is right – the real question is whether a person believes in the One who sent Jesus. Those who reject Jesus’ sender will reject Jesus, too. And this question is an important one, because Jesus’ definitely has power and authority behind Him; either the power and authority come from the one true God or they come from God’s greatest opponent, Satan. If we reject Jesus and believe that He was sent from Satan… and if we’re wrong… imagine explaining to God one day, “It was just a mistake of judgment! I thought Your teachings and Your power were from Satan, but I really wanted to follow You.” Rejecting Jesus is rejecting God. Believing in Jesus is believing in God. At least, that is what He claims.

 

He continues: “And if anyone hears but does not keep my words, I do not judge him…” Really? Explain. “… for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” Essentially, Jesus’ mission is a mission of salvation from God! It is good news for us all! So where does the bad news come from?

 

“The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has one who judges him; the word which I spoke – that shall judge him at the last day. For I did not speak of myself, but the Father who sent me – He gave me a commandment – what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life! Therefore, what I say, just as the Father said to me, so also I speak.” At the last day when we are standing before God’s judgment seat, it will not primarily be Christ judging us. Yes, He will be judge, but our rejection of God’s Words will judge us. If we get before the judgment throne of God and are asked to explain why we deserve eternal life, we will have nothing to say. Imagine: “Yes, God, now that I’m here before Your throne I know that Jesus was actually giving us Your words. But You have to understand that back there on earth, I was confused. It wasn’t so clear. I thought Your words didn’t sound good enough. So I rejected them. I refused to accept them. I thought something was wrong with them.” After a testimony like that, it’s not so much a matter of Jesus judging us. It’s a matter of us judging ourselves by rejecting Jesus’ words – the words of God!

 

Jesus consistently claimed that God sent Him. Either you believe that God sent Him or you don’t. There’s no middle ground. “I’m not sure” is a statement that you don’t believe God sent Jesus. If you’re right, you’re fine. But if you don’t believe God sent Jesus, you’re not right. You’re wrong. And your disbelief will judge you in the end.

 

These are hard truths, hard words. But look, no one’s trying to condemn you to hell. Anyone who says this to you wants you to be perfectly clear about the stakes so that you will choose to believe in Jesus. To believe in God. To choose life! Why be stubborn and hold on to your reservations? Why choose your own judgment? Your own death? Why? For pride? Surely your life is worth more than your pride! Choose life! Choose Jesus! Choose God!          

 

For those of us who have believed, we are so fortunate to be included among those who have a right relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ!

John 12:37-43

Well, I’m back in John. Jesus has just finished talking about His messianic mission to bring glory to His Father by His own death. After saying these things, he went away and hid Himself. His message was not popular. John goes on to talk about people’s responses, explaining them by Old Testament prophecies.

 

First, there was a response of disbelief. Although Jesus had performed signs that verified His claims, people did not believe in Him. John tells us that this was so that Isaiah’s prophecies would be fulfilled. Isaiah had written, “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” These questions come from Isaiah 53:1, and no one has received the Lord’s servant. They’ve all rejected Him. So these questions and the way that Isaiah answered them were being fulfilled right here in Jesus’ ministry. As Jesus is within the last week of His earthly ministry prior to the cross, no one has recognized the truth of His teaching; no one has received Jesus as the Christ, God’s servant. At least, almost no one. Jesus and His teachings were, for the most part, rejected. And within the context of Isaiah 53’s prophecy, it is not surprising to see that this rejection comes with Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus knows full well what is coming.

 

Why did they not believe? John explains with another prophecy: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they will not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and turn – and I will heal them.” God Himself blinded these people and hardened their hearts, and they cannot see or understand Jesus’ message. It sounds so unfair, doesn’t it? But we might want to ask when their eyes were blinded and when their hearts were hardened. Is this a sudden thing that God has just now done? Is the Bible saying that these people were good enough on their own, but that God prevented them from responding to Him? I don’t think so. God hardens sinners in their own sins and disbelief (look at Romans 1 and Genesis 1-3 and Exodus 7-14). What God is doing here is preventing them from justifying themselves; these sinful people will never be able to say, “I figured it out.” God has bound them in their sins and is preventing them from seeing the truth now to confirm to them that they are sinful.

 

The last phrase is often translated, “And I would heal them” or “and I heal them,” implying that God has specifically blinded these people because He does not intend to heal them, to save them. I’m not sure that’s all that God is saying. In the Old Testament, the quote is “and (someone) will heal them” or “and (it) will heal them.” In other words, in the Old Testament is seems that God wants to keep the people from turning and being healed on the basis of their own understanding. This judgment could last forever; sinners certainly deserve to be condemned in their sins. But maybe God intends to limit the judgment.

 

In the New Testament, it actually says, “and I will heal them.” It is certainly possible that this means that God has prevented them from understanding to prevent healing them. But it also seems possible that the subtle shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament is more than a clarification of what the Old Testament was teaching. It could be that John is showing that God has bound all men in their disobedience so that He can show Himself to be the only source of their salvation (Paul teaches such a concept – Rom. 11:32; I’m not sure whether it’s a stretch to see this idea here in John). If this understanding is right, then God bound these people in their disbelief not to keep from saving them, but to show them how utterly incapable they were of saving themselves and then to save them once they understood how sinful they were. They are totally blind… “and I will save them.” I could be going too far within this passage, but either way, God is justified. Either He is justly condemning sinners to stay lost in their sins, or He is proving that He is the only hope of salvation.

 

Isaiah said these things because He saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him. Jesus’ glory is not about sinners being able to work their way toward Him; it is about how Jesus works salvation in His own power, dying on the cross to save people from their sins. And we learn these things from the first response.

 

The second response is almost as bad. Many people – even among the rulers – actually believed in Jesus. But then John writes that they did not tell anyone that they believed in Him. Why not? Because they were scared that the Pharisees would put them out of the synagogue. The judgment about this behavior is chilling: “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.” They wanted to be accepted by men, recognized as spiritual, counted worthy of participation with men in the man-made synagogue. They chose this path rather than the path of following God no matter what men thought, even though they believed in Jesus. No king would be glad to have such disloyal followers.

 

Essentially, the response of men was to reject Jesus, to reject His messianic mission, to reject the glory and wisdom of God. We are weak creatures. We do not deserve eternal life, we are incapable of earning eternal life, and even when we believe in Jesus we do not deserve His salvation because we tend to be too afraid of men to stand up for our King.

 

Father, forgive us. Even those of us who are your followers. We fail You so often. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for us even though we are sinful, disloyal subjects.

 

Overview of Colossians

As I prepare for the quiz meet this Saturday, I need to be able to share with my quizzers what Paul was saying when he wrote to the Colossians. So I’m going to read quickly through, looking for key verses, and then I’ll summarize its message.

 

1:3-6 - We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-- the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.

 

1:10-12 - And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 

1:21-23 - Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

 

1:28-29 - We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

 

2:13-15 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

 

2:20-23 - Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

 

3:12-17 - Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

    Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

4:12-13 - Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

 

4:17 - Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."

 

Paul begins, as usual, by thanking God for the Colossians. Specifically, he is thankful that the hope found in the gospel has led them to live lives of faith and love. Paul also prays for them to bear fruit, be strengthened, and joyfully give thanks to the Father. These are our proper responses to the gospel.

 

Paul sums up the gospel, too. He always weaves it into his letters. Here, he sums it up this way: “You were alienated from God – His enemies. But God reconciled you to Himself by Christ’s death so that you can be holy. This hope depends on our faith in Christ.” The gospel is the starting point for everything Paul teaches – for all of life, as he says at the end of chapter 1.

 

The gospel results in great blessings for Christians. These include life, forgiveness, and freedom from the “written code.” It is because Christ died to give us these blessings that we are no longer to depend on rules for salvation. We aren’t saved because we avoid touching, tasting, or involving ourselves in certain activities, and we aren’t saved because we take part in good activities; we are saved only because of Jesus Christ!

 

What flows from this life that depends on Jesus Christ is spiritual. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, putting up with each other’s faults, and most of all – love. Christians are at peace with one another, and we ought to be very thankful people because of what Christ has done for us all. Our songs and our speech should be centered on Jesus Christ, and what we do should be done as His servants.

 

Epaphras is an example of someone who does this. His life is characterized by prayer for his fellow believers. His hope is for their growth and maturity. Paul is an example, too, as he encourages Archippus to keep working at what God has given him to do. We need each other’s prayers and encouragement.

 

Essentially, Paul says that there are right and wrong ways to live, but we don’t follow rules for the sake of our salvation. Instead, we seek to live by the spiritual changes Christ brings to our lives, knowing that He is working in us and gladly making every effort to receive what He gives. We depend on Christ, and so we seek to live according to what He gives us, keeping Him in mind.

 

 

Confession

I think my attitude about my devotions has gotten off-kilter. Not deliberately. But it has been stimulating for me to know that other people are benefiting from my time listening to God. It has encouraged me to keep spending time in His Word. Which is great. But I’ve been neglecting my prayer time. Why? I think that I’ve begun to feel responsible to those of you who read my thoughts, as though my thoughts about God’s Word are so valuable to you that I need to make sure you get them. I’m eager to encourage you, challenge you, and stimulate you to pursue God. And I believe these are good intentions, good desires.

 

But I am not the one who can sustain you spiritually. Only Christ is. And I need Him to sustain me, too. By not depending on Him in prayer, I’ve begun to act as though you need me rather than Christ, and as though I sustain myself, rather than demonstrating the truth that Christ sustains me. I will continue to post my devotional thoughts for your benefit; I hope it is a benefit, and we Christians ought to encourage one another. But as you read my thoughts, please remember to pray for me to depend on Christ. Pray that I will discipline myself not only to hear from Him, but also to fervently call on Him. I need Him so much, and my lack of prayer (which you could not have known about) has kept me from expressing my dependence on Him. He is my everything. Your everything. Let’s continue to grow in Him together, sharing in the process as He brings us to perfection one day.