This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day two of our look together through John chapter 13.
We're going to be looking at verses two to five today. Remember yesterday we
talked about the fact that John 13 is a very holy place of experiencing God's
presence.

As we begin our look today, we're going to see that in that holy place, God
worked in the realities of everyday life. And as we walk through the rest of
this chapter, you're going to see that Jesus taught his disciples then and now
two powerful lessons in John chapter 13. Simple but powerful.

Lesson number one, serve one another. Lesson number two, love one another. They
obviously build on one another.

Serve one another, love one another. These next couple days, we're going to talk
about what Jesus taught about serving. In fact, Jesus taught about it, but he
also pictured it for us.

It gives us a picture in this chapter of what a servant looks like. Have you
ever pictured in your mind, maybe somebody you're listening to on a radio or a
favorite author or even somebody you're listening to on a podcast, and then you
actually see the person and you realize the picture you had in your mind of what
that person looked like is not at all what you were picturing when you see the
real person. I just have to say that many, many people have the wrong picture of
a servant in their minds.

They picture a servant as somebody who is weak or a servant as somebody who has
no vision or energy. They just do things for others when asked or a servant who
is somebody who is unwilling to do what they're asked to do. Jesus wants us to
know what a servant looks like, and so he gave us this picture, John chapter 13
verses two to five.

The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas
Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all
things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
And so he 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 he began to wash his disciples'
feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around them. That's what a
servant looks like. What does a servant look like?

Jesus shows us. In fact, these next few days, we're going to walk through some
things that we learned from Jesus about this picture of a servant. Beginning
with this, what does a servant look like?

Number one, servants know who they are. Did you notice that? Jesus knew that the
Father had put all things under his power.

He knew that he'd come from God and was returning to God. It takes strength to
be a servant, strength of faith, strength of character, strength of mind. Don't
ever make the mistake of equating servanthood with weakness.

It takes greater strength to choose to serve than it does to rule an empire. And
so notice, it says here that all things, Jesus knew that all things were under
his power and knowing that, he got up from the meal. He could have chosen to do
anything.

All things were under his power. He chose to serve. Jesus served out of the
security of knowing who he was.

He came from God and he was returning to God. That's what enabled Jesus to serve
others. In this moment of his greatest personal pressure and stress, facing the
cross the next day, Jesus was able to serve because he knew who he was.

Truth is, if you're going through an identity crisis, you don't make a very good
servant. You're so busy trying to find yourself or prove yourself that you don't
have enough energy left for giving yourself. I found personally that Satan works
to get me insecure about who I am, about who I am because if he can do that,
then I'll focus on myself and not on serving others.

Servants know who they are. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you can know
that you are loved by God. You can know with security that God will never fail
or forsake you.

And in that security, you find the strength to serve others. Servants know who
they are. You know what else Jesus shows us about servants here?

It's very simple, but it's life changing. He shows us that servants meet needs.
Servants meet needs.

They do things that meet the needs of other people. They don't just think about
it or talk about it or preach sermons about it. They do something about it.

Why did Jesus wash the feet of the disciples? Well, he did it because their
hearts were proud. They had proud hearts and nobody else would wash the feet.

When he came into a room like that, somebody was supposed to wash the feet, but
nobody did. They all felt like that was above them. He did it because no one
else did.

He did it because their hearts were proud, but don't miss the obvious. He also
did it because he washed their feet because their feet were dirty. They had a
need.

They walked in sandals through the dusty streets. And so when they came into a
room, their feet would be washed. That was the common habit of that day.

And here's Jesus scrubbing dusty toes. Now, that is love made practical. That's
meeting needs.

God himself in human flesh washed dirty feet. So what does it mean, this thing
of washing feet? What does it mean to wash the feet of a disciple today?

To wash feet. To wash feet is to do something to meet someone's need. Just
serve.

That's what it means. You see, washing feet in Jesus's day was not a religious
ceremony. It wasn't a showy ceremony.

It was a menial task. Now, I know sometimes we wash, we have foot washing
ceremonies in churches today. And I guess it's okay to do that, but it usually
misses the point.

In Jesus's day, washing feet was like doing dishes or taking out the trash. It
wasn't a ceremony. It was meeting somebody's need.

And Jesus humbled himself to wash feet. The Greek word for humility means to
stoop low. That's literally what Jesus did.

He stooped over and he washed feet. Now, when I say servants meet needs and you
see Jesus washing feet, I just encourage you, don't try to spiritualize this and
make this somehow about the washing away of sins as Jesus washed their feet.
Only the cross can wash away our sins.

This is just washing dirty feet. Jesus was not above washing dirty feet. Some
people try to spiritualize this and they miss the whole point.

Just meet needs. Just serve. The greatest servants know that the greatest
barrier to the meeting of other people's needs is this.

My proud heart. Not proud hearts or our proud heart, but my proud heart. Your
proud heart.

You see, that night as they walked into that room ready to take the Passover
celebration together, everything was ready for someone to serve. The pitcher was
there. The wash basin was there.

The linen cloth was there. The dirty feet were there. It just took a person to
take it up.

And Jesus did. He did it to picture for us what it means to serve. And can you
imagine?

Can you imagine the quietness in that room after Jesus washed the feet of the
disciples? It would have been easy for them to look at their feet and feel a
sense of guilt and shame. But Jesus looked at them and said, "Don't feel guilty.

Just do the same thing for others as I've done for you. " We're going to see
that later this week. As believers, we can take God's undeserved grace and
translate it into feelings of guilt or unworthiness, or you can take God's
undeserved grace and translate it into feelings of actions and service for
others.

Jesus said, "I'm giving you a picture. What I've done for you, you do for
others. " Now, as we take some moments to pray today, as you talk to God, I
encourage you for a few moments to picture yourself in that upper room.

Take a moment to do that. Picture yourself there with those disciples in that
upper room and visualize for a moment. I know this may be difficult if you're
not a visual person, but visualize in prayer for a moment, Jesus washing your
feet.

How do you feel? What's your attitude? And how might your heart need to change?

Do you feel guilty? Like, why should he wash my feet? Seek his forgiveness and
realize you are forgiven by him.

Do you feel unworthy? Oh, he should be washing someone else's feet. Reacquaint
yourself with grace in this moment.

He saved you because he has a purpose for your life. We're all unworthy, but
we're also all loved by him and saved by him as we trust in him. As you picture
in your mind Jesus washing your feet, do you feel challenged?

If you feel challenged, then in this moment, decide to serve. In your heart, in
this moment, say, "Jesus Christ, who can I serve today? Jesus Christ, what dirty
feet are around me today that need to be washed?

Jesus Christ, where do I need to humble myself to stoop low today? Jesus Christ,
where do I need to meet needs this day? " Our Father, we pray, we pray together,
that you would give us the strength to serve you today.

Help us not try to serve you on our own energy or strength. We need your
strength. And help us not to try to serve you with our own picture in mind.

You gave us the picture. Simply meet needs. Just serve.

Jesus, strengthen us to do that today, we pray. In your name. Amen.

Well, make sure to join us tomorrow. We're going to be picking up at verse six
and continuing on with Jesus's picture of what it means to be a servant.