John 13

Order of Service

• Hymn — Jesus Shall Reign
• Call to Worship — Isaiah 12:1-6
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Colossians 1:13-14
• Scripture Reading — Joshua 2:1-24
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
• Hymn — More Love to Thee, O Christ
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Lowly Service Received, Rendered, and Rejected

Scripture: John 13:1-20

I. Lowly Service Received

A. The context: Jesus knows his hour has come — the hour of his death and departure to the Father

1. John 1 establishes that Jesus came from the Father's side; his mission was to purchase a people for himself
2. John 6:38-40: "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me"
3. He loved his own "to the end" — unto death, as in Philippians 2

B. The shocking nature of foot-washing in the ancient world

1. Foot-washing was reserved for slaves — and specifically Gentile slaves; Jewish slaves were exempt from the task
2. Jesus takes the position of the lowest possible servant — a "Gentile dirty-dog slave"
3. He performs it during the meal rather than before, compounding the strangeness

C. Peter's resistance illustrates the difficulty of receiving grace

1. Jesus tells Peter: "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me" — indicating a spiritual, not merely physical, washing
2. The one already bathed needs only feet washed — likely referencing ceremonial Passover washings (baptismos) transitioning to the new covenant cleansing of conscience through Christ's blood (Hebrews)
3. Biblical faith is best described as rest — resting in the finished work of Christ, receiving it as pure gift
4. Romans 4:4-6: righteousness counted apart from works, to the one who believes in him who justifies the ungodly
5. Psalm 51:17: God desires a broken and contrite heart — we come with nothing in our hands

D. God is the God of the poor and the widow — his people are always those with nothing to offer

1. We come to his table as Mephibosheth — crippled, with nothing to offer, yet seated at the king's table
2. Come to the Lord's Table not with your own merit but with absolute want and lack, feeding on superabundant grace

II. Lowly Service Rendered

A. John 13:15: "I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you"

1. The word example means pattern or model — the Christian is to imitate Christ's lowly service
2. No act of service is beneath the Christian — not even the role of a Gentile slave

B. Christianity is always countercultural in its service

1. Every culture under the sun has gradations of dignity, worthiness, and reward in service
2. The Christian renders service with no quid pro quo — self-emptying as in Philippians 2

C. Christ's humiliation is not merely the path to glory — it is his glory

1. In his resurrected body, Jesus still bears nail marks (John 20)
2. In Revelation, he is still called "the Lamb who was slain" — he does not shed the marks of his lowly service even in exaltation
3. Christ's foot-washing, cross-bearing service is the glory of God manifested through his church

D. The victory of Christ's church is seen in its lowly love, not in power or force

1. The Pagan Emperor Julian lamented that Christian care for strangers, the poor, and the dead advanced the Christian cause more than anything
2. Christian lowly service renders Satan useless — his tools of pride and self-interest have no grip on a church whose King rules above the sun

III. Lowly Service Rejected

A. John 13:2: the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus

1. Judas's betrayal involves both his own free volition and the work of the devil
2. Jesus, fully aware of this, still washes Judas's feet — extravagant love extended even to his betrayer

B. Judas's rejection is sovereignly ordained as the pathway to Christ's greatest act of lowly service: the cross

1. John 13:3: "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands… he rose" — the betrayal does not catch him off guard
2. Satan's use of Judas to reject Christ's love becomes the very means by which God displays his love par excellence at Calvary

C. John 13:19: "I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he"

1. The Greek egō eimi ("I am he") echoes the divine name given to Moses at the burning bush
2. Ezekiel 24:24: "When this happens you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord"
3. Isaiah 43:10: "You are my witnesses… that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he" — spoken in the context of the suffering servant
4. Yahweh is made known to the world through the suffering servant being betrayed, rejected, and crucified — the Great I Am in the flesh

D. The cross is Satan's greatest weapon, yet it seals his defeat

1. Every wound inflicted on Christ — whether through casualties to the church or casualties inflicted by the church's enemies — proclaims Christ's lordship
2. Tertullian: the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church
3. Application: what appears as defeat in the eyes of the world is victory in Christ — go and love one another