Adrian Rogers - Christ-Like Love
Find John chapter 13, the Gospel of John. And in a moment we're going to look at verse 34. A psychiatrist said that, "Man's greatest need is to be loved and to be able to show and to give love," and that is so true. Now, we're going to look right now at the last commandment that Jesus gave. Of all of His commandments, this is the last one that He gave before He ascended the high hills of glory. At least, before His arrest, His trial and His crucifixion. He gave another commandment after that, and that was what we call The Great Commission. But our world is starving for love.
And this is what Jesus said here in John chapter 13 verse 34, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another". We're going to be talking today about Christ-Like love. Now, Jesus has given us an example, also, of this love. So go back to the beginning of this chapter, and you're going to find out that Jesus, the great Teacher, gave a glorious and a wonderful example. And the example is the washing of His disciples' feet.
Chapter 13 verse 1 through verse 6, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself. And after that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash His disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel wherewith He was girded".
Now, let's just stop right there and let me talk to you a little bit about the custom in Bible times, and I think a wonderful custom. In Bible times, people wore sandals. They didn't wear the kind of lace up shoes, primarily, that I'm wearing today, but they wore sandals, and they did not wear socks as we wear socks today, but open sandals. And, of course, the roads were not paved as our roads are paved today with asphalt and concrete. And so there was a lot of dust and a lot of grit and a lot of dirt.
Now, if you were to come into a well-to-do house of that particular day, there would be a pot full of water and a basin and a little bench there, and generally there would be a servant. And when you would come into the house, you would slip off your sandals, kind of let your toes do that a little bit, and then you would put your foot down into that basin of nice cool water and a servant would get down there and wash your feet and then massage your feet like that. Can you feel that? Oooo, that feels good. And wash your feet and then dry them with a towel. Can you do your toes like that, and go into the house. Just wonderful. A refreshment. Just a wonderful touch.
Well, now, Jesus is there instituting, what we call the Last Supper, this memorial feast, just before the Passover. And remember, Jesus, knowing that His hour has come, that He's going to be crucified; that Judas is going to betray Him, knowing all of this, when they came into that house there was no servant there to do that. And not a one of those others volunteered for that task, and so Jesus, He takes off His outer garments and He lays them aside. He takes a towel, ties it around His waist, fills a basin with water, and Jesus, Jesus, the Lord of Glory, knowing that He's come from God, that He's going to God, that the Father has committed all things into His hands, He takes the feet, the smelly feet of fisherman, tax collectors, and others of this motley crew that were His disciples, and Jesus washes their feet.
And later on in John 13:14 He's going to say, "If I, Your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet". Then He says in John 13:34, "As I have loved you, I'm going to give you a new commandment, that you love one another". What a wonderful, wonderful lesson on love. Now, I want us to see four things about this kind of love, and I want you to check up and see if these four things are true in your heart and in your life. Number one: Christ-Like love is selfless love.
Now, so many of us are so rotten; filled with ourselves. We are so preoccupied with ourselves. And go into any bookstore and what are the books all about? Self-love, self-esteem, self-glory, self-fulfillment. I mean, our society is based on that, and yet we see the Lord Jesus Christ humbling Himself and actually doing the labor of a slave or a servant. It is not without significance that John 13 verse 4 says, "He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments". Now, that is what He did actually, literally, physically, but it is symbolic of what He did when He stepped out of glory, when He laid aside the garments of glory that were His in Heaven, and came down to this earth.
Put in your margin Philippians 2 and verses 5 through 8. And here's what the apostle Paul says about the Lord Jesus Christ and about us. He says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," but now, listen to this, "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; And, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross".
Now, don't miss what Paul is saying here. He's saying that Jesus, "Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God". Jesus is co-equal, co-eternal, co-essential with God the Father. Never forget that. That, friend, is basic Christianity. We sing the Doxology, "Praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". We serve one God who has revealed Himself to us in three persons. But Jesus stepped out of Heaven and He came from sovereignty to slavery. He humbled Himself. He became obedient. Satan, in contrast, as we preached last week, in his pride said, "I will ascend. I will be like the most high". "I'm going up, up, up, up". God said, "No, you're going down, down, down, down, down".
Jesus stepped out of the glory, humbled Himself, and the Bible says in Philippians 2:10, "Therefore, God hath given Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow". Now, many of us fight for reputation. Jesus laid aside His reputation. We like to talk about how we came from nothing to something. Every now and then you'll have an evangelist who will come from place to place. Maybe God saved him in prison and his message is, "From the Prison to the Pulpit". Well, I'm glad for that, but how Jesus made something out of nothing. But Jesus came from something and made Himself of no reputation.
Now, the disciples of Jesus were not that way. Put in your margin Luke chapter 22 and look in verse 24 through verse 27. And this is the same night that all of this took place, the same evening now. Get the context; the same evening when Jesus is washing their feet, just before that there was a big dispute. Luke tells us about it. Luke 22 verse 24, "And there was a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest". Can you imagine these rascals? "And He said unto them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.'"
Now Jesus never says, "Don't be great". Jesus says, "Just make sure that it's real greatness that you get". And real greatness is service. Here are these disciples, saying, "I'm better than you are, I'm bigger than you are, I want to sit at His right hand, I want to sit at His left hand". Jesus said, "Forget that! Forget that. You're acting like pagans, the lords of the Gentiles. No! You want to be great? Then serve. Forget about yourself". Now, let me say this. Humility is not thinking lowly of yourself. I've said this so many times. People just say, "Well, you know, I'm just no good, I'm just no good". Cut that out. That's not humility; that's just poor posture.
Now, physically, if you can't help it, that's one thing. But humility is not thinking lowly of yourself. Jesus, in the greatest act of humility, washed His disciples' feet, but was He thinking lowly of Himself? Read it in John 13:3, "Jesus, knowing that He had come from God, and was going to God, and that the Father had committed all things into His hands". Do you think He's thinking lowly of Himself? No. Get the context. Knowing all of that, knowing that, knowing who He was, then laid aside His garments, took a towel, and washed His disciples' feet. That, my friend, is humility. Well, you say, "What does that have to do with me"?
Friend, you're somebody. You have been born of God. And if you've been born of God, you're going to God also. I mean, you're somebody. Now you can be a servant. Now you can lay aside your pride. Real love is selfless love. Now, the Bible says in Romans chapter 12 and verse 3, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think," that's what Satan tried to do, "but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith". Just say, "I am what I am by the grace of God".
The grace of God exalts a man without inflating him, and it humbles a man without debasing him. And we don't live in sinful exaggeration or false humiliation, but in sober estimation. I am what I am by the grace of God. And, therefore, now I am free to serve you. We had a staff meeting and I told the staff what I want to tell you, thinking about who you are and who God is. And it helps us to get together and to love one another as we ought to love one another. Let me give you some words. First of all, is the word grace. Do you know what grace is? Grace is God's acceptance of me. God just accepts me, not because of my goodness, no! Romans 5:8, "God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". Thank God.
The Bible says in Ephesians 1:6, "He hath made us accepted in the Beloved". So God accepts me. That is grace. Now, here's the next thing. God accepts me, that is grace. Faith, the next step, is my acceptance of God's acceptance of me. That's what faith is. Faith just accepts the fact that God accepts me. Faith. All right. Grace. Faith. Grace: God accepts me; Faith: I accept that God accepts me. Now, if God accepts me, what am I to do? I am to accept me. That is peace. Peace. All right. Grace, Faith, Peace. When I see the grace of God, and I put my faith in the grace of God, for the first time the peace of God comes into my heart. I have to stop trying; I start trusting. And then that wonderful, glorious peace like a river comes into me. That is peace because now I accept me.
Have you ever accepted you? Most of us have never really accepted ourselves. We're still struggling, trying to make ourselves acceptable; you can't do it. Just accept the fact by faith that God has accepted you and be at peace, my brother and my sister. That is peace. You accept you. I hear people say you're not supposed to love yourself. No, that's wrong. You're to love yourself. Not love your faults. I'm not talking about egotism. May I ask you a question? Does God love you? Does He? Is it all right for you to love what God loves? Now, do you love me? Say, "Yes". All right. Now, what does the Bible say? "We are to love one another as we love ourselves". Matthew 22 verse 39. Now, if you don't love you, you can't love me. See? "We're to love one another as we love ourselves".
Now, how do we love ourselves? Well, we just understand we are what we are by the grace of God. We have been born of God. We're going to God. Yes, we have that peace. Now, first of all, grace, then faith, then peace. Now I accept me. Now, for the first time, I'm free to accept you. That's love. Grace, faith, peace, love. You see, I accept you now. You know why I can accept you and you can accept me? I don't have to lord it over you. I don't have to put you down. I don't have to strut in front of you. I don't have to brag in order to build myself up. I know who I am in Jesus Christ. I've been born of God and I'm going to God. I know who I am. Therefore, I don't have to get in ego against ego, strutting, trying to be the greatest, whomever. No! I can show love to you and I'll never run out of that love because the more love I give you, the more love He gives me, and it just flows through me and flows through you. That's love.
Now notice; grace: God's acceptance of me; faith: my acceptance of God's acceptance of me; peace: now I accept me; love: now I accept you. And now for the first time you're free to accept me because I'm not the person I used to be before I experienced this, and that's fellowship. That's what God wants. Grace, faith, peace, love, fellowship, as we learn to love one another. And so what is real love? What is Christ-Like love? It is selfless love! Selfless love, not being all concerned about number one. And selfless love is real humility. May I tell you that unbounded love and pride can never dwell in the same heart! Only in pure humility can there be genuine love. All right. Got it?
Now, let's move, not only is Christ-Like love selfless love, but Christ-Like love is steadfast love. Look in verse 1 of this chapter, John 13, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world". Now, what that means is, He knows that the clock is ticking and the crucifixion is near. "Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father," watch this, "having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end". He didn't stop loving them. He just kept on loving them.
And may I tell you that if you examine the lives of these people, they were not all that lovely at that time. Peter's going to curse and swear and deny Him. James and John are talking about whose going to be the greatest in the kingdom. And they were filled with fear and all of these things. But He just kept on loving them. Now, many times we excuse ourselves, I've done this and you have too, we excuse ourselves when we're irritable if we're what? Tired. Worn out. Had a hard day. People have mistreated us. And we bark at people and we snap at people and we say, "Well, after all, if you knew what I've been through, you'd understand that". Oh, listen. Jesus, facing the cross, is showing love. Jesus, knowing that the hour is coming that they're going to crucify Him; still He is steadfastly loving them.
Now, if your so-called love cannot stand the test of excruciating times, you don't have real love at all. If you just love when the times are good, any pagan can do that. What Jesus is doing is loving under extreme pressure. This is love under pressure. Many of us, have you ever just erupted at somebody? Grrrrrr! And then, you just say, "Well, I'm sorry. I've been under so much pressure. Just forgive me". If you want to know what you're full of, just see what spills out when you get jostled. That's what you're full of. Now, if when you get jostled, all that stuff comes out, you're just full of all that stuff. But if you get jostled and love comes out, then you're full of love.
Now what am I saying? That Jesus, in the midst of extreme duress, extreme pressure, knowing that He's about to be crucified, is steadfastly loving His disciples. Real love, Christian love, loves steadfastly. It loves unto the end. All of us have had friends. We call them fair weather friends like passengers on a ship. When everything's smooth, they're on board with us, but you let the water get rough and they bale out. Real love will never let us go, never let us go. One man had a son that was breaking his heart. He had almost bankrupted himself, trying to reclaim the boy. He had counseled with the boy. He had had the boy to counselors. He had soaked the boy in prayer. He had not only gone the second mile, the third mile, the fourth mile.
The boy had disgraced the father, broken the mother's heart. This dad had done all that he could do to reclaim his son. He was talking with a friend about it and the friend said, "I'll tell you what I would do with him if he were my son". And the father said, "Yes, you're right. If he were your son, that's what I'd do to, but he's not your son. He's my son and I can't let him go". I love that. "He is my son". I'll tell you, no matter what you do, listen to me, listen to me, I don't care what you do; He will never let you go. John 13:1, "Having loved His own, He loved them 'eis telos.'" That means, "all the way to the end". O love that will not let me go. What can separate us from the love of Christ?
Read Romans 8 verses 38 and 39 "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord". You are loved, my friend. You know what the devil tells some of you, and he's telling some of you right now? "You've messed up. You've blown it. God doesn't love you anymore. You've had it". That's a lie out of Hell. He does love you. Nothing you can do will make Him love you anymore, nothing you can do will make Him love you any less. He doesn't love us because we're lovely; He loves us because of His grace. "And having loved His own, He loves them unto the end".
What is Christ-Like love? It is selfless love. "He laid aside His garments". It is steadfast love. "He loved them unto the end". Thank God for that. Number three: Christ-Like love is serving love. You know what the apostle John said? In First John 3:18 he said, "Let's not just love in word, but in deed and in truth". Look in John 13 verses 4 and 5, "He," Jesus, "riseth from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself. And after that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash His disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded". Did you know that real love knows no job that is so lowly to do? Do you know the feet that He washed, do you know among who were in that crowd?
Judas was there. Jesus, knowing soon that Judas is going to betray Him with a kiss of infamy, a kiss that would burn like a coal from Hell on His cheeks, Jesus washed Judas' feet. You see, didn't Jesus say in Matthew 5:44, "Bless them that persecute you. Do good to them that despitefully use you"? You see, Jesus, Jesus didn't practice what He preached; He preached what He practiced. I mean, Jesus is serving. Now, let me give you a definition of love. Love is not giving to someone else what they deserve! Love is giving to someone what they need. That's what real love does. Real dove doesn't give us what we deserve, but what we need. A well-known preacher went into an airport. I may have told you this before. He sat down in the restaurant in the airport. It was early in the morning, he wanted breakfast.
The waitress came out and she was kind of sassy. You ever had kind of a sassy waitress? Said, "What do you want"? He said, "Well, I'd like some breakfast". Said, "You want a menu"? He said, "Yes, ma'am". "Do you want some coffee"? "Yes, ma'am". "Do you like some orange juice"? "Yes, ma'am". She said, "Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am. Is that all you can say, yes, ma'am"? He said, "Yes, ma'am". So he gave the order. She went back into the kitchen, came out again with an ugly look on her face, slapped the food down there and said, "You want anything else"? He said, "No, ma'am. That's fine. Thank you, ma'am".
She turned and went away. He ate his breakfast, filled out the check, left, as I remember the story, a $20 bill on the table. Turned and started to walk out. She said, "Hey, you! You left some money on the table". He said, "Well, don't they tip around here"? She said, "Wait a minute. You left a $20 tip for me the way I treated you"? He said, "Yes, ma'am". She, "Why would you do that"? He said, "I was watching you. I could tell you were hurt. I could tell you had some real problem. I could tell that things were bothering you. You must have some problem, and I just thought I would show you some love". She began to cry. She said, "You don't know the problems I've had". Said, "I left a child today sick. Coming to work, my old rattletrap car broke down. The boss got all over me for being late. Yes, I've had some problems". He said, "Well, I thought maybe so. I thought maybe this'd cheer you up".
It wasn't very long until he led her to Christ right there in that restaurant and she got saved. You know what that is? That's Christ-Like love. That is not giving her what she deserved; it was giving her what she needed, and what she needed right then was love! What did these disciples deserve? They didn't deserve to have their feet washed. They needed a kick in the pants in human terms. But Jesus knew the love that these needed. And so, Christ-Like love is serving love. And you know, if the members of our church all had Christ-Like love, we wouldn't have to beg for people to work in the nursery. We wouldn't have to beg for people to work on the parking lot. We wouldn't have to beg for people to work in Vacation Bible School, or to sing in the choir.
You see, that's Christ-Like love. It is serving love. First John 3 verse 18, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth". When you have Christ-Like love, there is no job too small for you to do. Jesus, the Lord of Glory, is serving, washing dirty feet. Now, let me give you the fourth mark of Christ-Like love. We said that it is selfless. We've said that it is steadfast. We've said that it is serving. Christ-Like love is also sanctifying love. Now, I'm going to begin to read here in verse 6, and I'm going to read right on through verse 15, because I don't want you to miss the trend here because there's a change that's happening here. There's a transition. Jesus is now moving from the physical to the spiritual, and from the literal to the symbolic.
Read John 13 verses 6 through 15, "Then cometh He to Simon Peter; and Peter saith unto Him, 'Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?'" I feel like saying, "Peter, you'd better let Him, you're about to put it in your mouth". "'Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?' Jesus answered, and said unto him, 'What I do thou knowest not now,'" that is, He's going now beyond the literal, "'but thou shalt know hereafter.'" "Peter, later on, you're going to understand the deeper meaning of all of this". "Peter saith unto Him, 'Thou shalt never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.'" Peter says, "If it's that important". "Peter saith unto Him, 'Lord, wash not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'" "If it's all that important, Lord, don't just stop with the feet".
Verse 10, "Jesus saith unto him, 'He that is washed needeth not save,'" or except, "'to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and you're clean, but not all.'" Now, I'm going to come back to that in a moment. That's a very important verse. "For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, 'Ye are not all clean.'" He's talking about all of them as individuals. They were not all saved. He knew that Judas was unclean, that Judas had never been saved. And, "So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was sat down again, He said unto them, 'Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you".
Now, this is the last point and the final point and the sanctifying thing. Christ's love is sanctifying love. Jesus now is turning the conversation to symbolism. No longer is He talking about literal dirt; He's talking about spiritual defilement that comes into lives because all of us get contaminated by sin. All of us get our spiritual feet dirty because we live in a dirty, grimy, and dusty world. Now, Jesus is saying, "Peter, I need to wash your feet". And Peter says, "Well, no, You can't wash my feet". Jesus said, "Now, if I don't wash your feet, I have no part with you". That means, I can't fellowship with you. Then Peter says, "Well, wash me all over". He said, "You don't need to be washed all over, you just need your feet washed".
Now what is all of this a lesson about? Well, salvation is called the washing of regeneration. When we get saved, spiritually were bathed and cleansed from the defilement of this world. But we still live in this world and we still get our feet dirty. Is there anybody here who hasn't sinned after you've gotten saved? No one. I mean, even though we've been saved, even though He has washed us and made us whiter than snow, we still walk in an old dirty world, and we need to come and get our feet washed. That is, day by day we need to kind of get our spiritual feet washed. Right? Got it? Now, Peter, when he saw this, he said, "Well, wash me all over". Jesus said, "No, you've already had a bath. You've already had a bath and you're clean. You just need to have your feet washed".
What is the lesson there? The lesson is very simple, very plain, and very clear. Once you get saved, that's it. But you have to keep getting your feet washed. You see, once you've had the bath, that's settled. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find anywhere where anybody was ever saved twice. You can't find it, you can't find it. Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified". We are saved, when we're saved, it is once and for all, but we still need to get our feet washed because we need to come to Him for daily cleansing and daily foot washing. So, what He's talking about now is not some sort of a ceremony. When He says in John 13:14, "I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet".
Some churches have this as a ceremony. I mean, in the service, like they have baptism and they have the Lord's Supper, they have foot washing service. I don't make fun of that. I think it's very beautiful. But that's not what Jesus is doing. Jesus is not giving us a new church ordinance, like we all come to church some day and wash one another's feet. No, it's much more practical than that and much more spiritual than that. He's not setting up a new ordinance. Humility is not humility when it's put on show, I mean, when we all wash our feet because we're going to have foot washing today and come to church. I'm not really putting that down, but you have to go beyond this.
What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying, "Peter, you are going to get your feet dirty. In a little while, you're going to betray Me. But, Peter, I'm going to wash your feet. Peter, I am going to forgive you". And Jesus did. Remember that episode in John chapter 21 and verses 15 through 19 after the resurrection? "Simon, do you love Me"? "Well, Lord, You know all things. You know I love You". "Now, Simon, do you love Me more than these"? "Oh, Lord, You know all things". "Peter, do you love Me"? Three times Jesus asked that question. Why? Because three times Peter had denied Him. What is Jesus doing now? He's washing the feet of Simon Peter. At that day, Jesus said, "Peter, you don't understand, but you will understand later on".
I'll guarantee you, that day on the seashore he understood what Jesus was talking about when he had his feet washed. So many times; I was saved as a teenage boy, but so many times, thank God, hallelujah, He's washed my feet, and He's never stopped loving me, and He'll never stop loving you.
Now, I've got to get to the end of this message, but let me ask you a question. Suppose, right now, in this building that door up there were to open, and in would walk Jesus Christ in bodily form. And He has a towel. And He has a basin, and He were to come to you this morning, get right in front of you, and say, now, this is Jesus, not Adrian now, but Jesus, saying, "May I wash your feet," how would you feel? You wouldn't say like Peter, "Oh, Lord! You can never wash my feet"! And He'll say, "Well, if I don't wash your feet, I can't have any fellowship with you". And with scalding tears coming down your cheeks, you would let Jesus wash your feet. Can you imagine Him washing your feet? Just imagine that. And with tears of gratitude and love, you would let Him do it. But now, suppose, He were to hand you the basin and say, "Will you wash My feet"? What would you say? "Oh, Lord, yes, hmm, gladly! Lord, I could wash Your feet! Lord, yes! Yes, I'd wash Your feet, yes, I would".
Well, all pretense aside, Jesus Christ is here today, not in bodily form, but Matthew 18:20 says, "Where two or three are gathered in His name," He's here, isn't He? I want to tell anybody here today He wants to wash your feet. But, now, the second question. Will you wash His feet? You say, "Well, it can't be done because He's not here, physically". No, here's the point. Now listen to me carefully. Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, "Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, My brethren, you've done it unto Me".
Do you understand that? When you wash my feet, you're washing the feet of Jesus because I am the body of Christ. I'm going to fail you. You're going to fail me, just as those disciples failed Jesus. And what is our ministry? Ephesians 4:32, "Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ sake, hath forgiven you". Do you know somebody who needs their feet washed? Somebody who's done you wrong? They haven't done you as wrong as the disciples had done Jesus wrong. Peter was going to curse and swear and deny Him, and yet Jesus washed Peter's feet. And I'm telling you that the church will be a wonderful place when we allow Jesus to wash our feet and to keep us clean day by day. And when we, with Christ-Like love, wash one another's feet. Is there somebody you know whose feet need to be washed today? Would you humble yourself?
Last week we talked about pride. Let me tell you something about foot washing. You can't wash feet without humility. There's one thing that's impossible to do, and that's to look down on somebody while you're washing their feet. You just can't do it. You can't look down on a person while you are washing their feet. "Jesus laid aside His garments". Let's lay aside our pride and our position. Jesus never laid aside His deity and His glory, but He washed His disciples' feet. I'm so glad for that. It feels so good to have your feet washed. Toes just like that. So, so good.
And, friend, it is so good when you say, "I'm clean. Jesus, thank You". "If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". Read that in First John 1:9. Then we can go in and have fellowship with Him at the table. Amen? And there're people who need your love. They need it greatly. They need selfless love, steadfast love, serving love, and sanctifying love. That's Christ-Like love. John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you". May our church, may our church, this church, just be a colony of Heaven, saturated with the love of Jesus Christ.
Bow your heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. This kind of love is supernatural love. It is not natural love; it is supernatural love. Oh, yes it is. The Bible says, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost". You cannot love this way by sheer human will and determination. It's supernatural. You've got to let the love of God come into you so you can give it to others. That's the grace we were talking about. He accepts us and we accept that He accepts us. Now, if you've never been saved, let me tell you, God loves you too. Oh, He loves you, and He invites you today to have every sin forgiven. He'll give you a bath all over. Yes, He will. You'll be bathed, cleansed by the washing of regeneration. From there on, He'll just wash your feet every day if you'll let Him. If you want to be saved, would you pray a prayer like this:
Dear God, I am a sinner, and I am lost, and I need to be saved, and I want to be saved. Jesus, You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You, Jesus, right now, with all of my heart. Come into my life. Forgive my sins. Save me, Jesus. Save me, Jesus. Thank You for doing it. I receive it by faith, and that settles it. You're my Lord, my Savior, and my God. And Lord Jesus, I give You my life now, and I will live my life for You the rest of my days because You have died for me. Thank You for saving me. In Your name I pray. Amen.