Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
September 3, 2023
INTRO
We are jumping back into our series in the Gospel of John called “Full of Grace and Truth.” If you’re new, we started in the Gospel of John exactly a year ago! We have a series overview handout available in the back if you need a refresher on where we’ve been in this series. It has an outline and describes major themes. Something we value deeply here at New Life is the preaching of God’s Word book-by-book and verse-by-verse so that we listen and hear what the Lord wants to teach us as we go in-depth into the Scriptures.
We are at the turning point in this book. Chapter 13 begins a section that is 8 chapters long and covers only 4 days during the Passover Festival in Jerusalem. The Apostle John slows down the narrative of events and zooms in on Jesus’ march toward the cross.
Up to this point in the Gospel of John, we have seen Jesus perform miraculous signs like turning water into wine, feeding thousands of people, walking on water, healing the blind, and raising the dead. After each miracle, John records lengthy sections where Jesus explains the significance of his acts as they prove that he is the Word made flesh, the new temple, the bread of life, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, and the anointed King.
But the coming chapters are different. Rather than explaining things after the fact, Jesus sits down with his disciples at the Passover meal, and he explains to them ahead of time what will happen over the next three days. He is not only preparing them for the immediate moment; he is preparing them (and preparing us!) for the church age when Christ ascends to heaven and his people begin following him in a world that is hostile and difficult and desperately needs to know the hope of the gospel.
So these chapters are like a road map, a final encouragement, and a source of comfort and hope for those who follow the crucified and risen Christ in the midst of a lost and broken world. From now until December we will be focusing on chapters 13-17, seeing how Jesus ministered to his disciples in the Upper Room before he went to the cross. So let’s go started!
Open with me to John 13:1-17. We are jumping in at the start of the annual Passover Festival in Jerusalem where the Jewish people commemorated their deliverance from slavery in Egypt more than 1000 years earlier. We know from Exodus 12 that God’s people were spared because of the the sacrificial lamb’s blood on the doorframes of their houses, foreshadowing the coming Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed to forgive us our sins so that we would be spared from God’s wrath.
PROP — Here’s what we are going to see in this passage: Jesus illustrates the unfathomable depth of his love for his people by displaying his very heart of humility as he goes to the cross. He shows us the significance of his unique atoning sacrifice, but also invites us to follow his example of radically humble servant love for others.
Let’s read. READ John 13:1-17.
ORG SENT — Here’s how we will tackle this incredible account. (SLIDE 2) Jesus does a symbolic act that reveals his motivation for going to the cross (v. 1), his purpose for going to the cross (vv. 2-11), and his expectation of his followers in light of the cross (vv. 12-17).
MAIN 1 — Motivation For Going To The Cross (v. 1). (SLIDE 3a)
Go back to verse 1. John is careful to note the timing here. He says that the Passover Festival is just about to start. (SLIDE 3b) Because this event is the backdrop for the next 8 chapters, let me say a few more words about the significance of the Passover.
Back in Exodus 12, (SLIDE 3c) the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and even though Moses and Aaron had repeatedly told Pharaoh God’s command to “let my people go so that they may worship me,” Pharaoh hardened his heart and God brought a series of plagues upon Egypt because Pharaoh would not give in.
The last plague that finally broke Pharaoh was the striking down of the firstborn sons of every Egyptian household. Yet God spared the Israelites by commanding them to sacrifice a lamb and to paint the blood on their doorframes so that the Lord would pass over them. That’s where we get the term “passover,” and the Lord commands that they commemorate this event for generations to come.
This is what Exodus 12:24-27 says, (SLIDE 4 and 5) “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.”
Did you catch the end there? God’s saving act is cause for worship! In the moment of greatest trouble, in their weakness, in their bondage and hopelessness, God did a mighty act to save them. Why? (SLIDE 6, blank)
We need to go back to the beginning of the Exodus story. Immediately before Moses encountered God at the burning bush, this is what the text says in Exodus 2:23-25 to set up the whole event, (SLIDE 7) “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”
Critical: In the story of the Exodus from Egypt, which the Passover Festival in John 13 is commemorating, (SLIDE 8a) the reason God acts to save his people is because he heard their cries, he remembered his promise, and he was concerned about them.
This reveals God’s very heart: God hears your cries. He is trustworthy in his promises. His heart is full of concern and compassion for you. Even when we feel broken and lost, even when we stumble in sin, even when we wonder if all is hopeless…be assured that God is trustworthy to hear your cries for help precisely because he loves you.
This same motivation is reflected in Jesus, God himself in the flesh, who came to lead a new Exodus. (SLIDE 8b) He is the new Passover Lamb, he is the new Moses, and he is the compassionate Savior who has heard our cries for help. Listen to these opening words of John 13 again that set up the next 8 chapters that follow: READ v. 1b (“Jesus knew…”)
There are two important things to point out here that explain who Jesus loves and to what extent he loves:
WHO — (SLIDE 9a) John draws a contrast between the words “his own” and “the world”. We’ve seen this before in John 10:3 where Jesus the Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them”. Jesus is doing a work through his death and resurrection to draw out from the world a new people, a redeemed community of disciples called the church who live in contrast to this world because we belong to the Kingdom of God. (SLIDE 9b) And so the object of Christ’s love as he goes to the cross are those who would believe in his name and trust him as Savior. He is doing this for us!
TO WHAT EXTENT — (SLIDE 9c) John says “he loved them to the end.” This word “end” describes both the degree that Jesus loves and the length of time.
(SLIDE 9d) Degree = he loves to the uttermost with an inexhaustible love.
(SLIDE 9e) Time = he loves to his last breath with an undying love.
APPLY: I think it is really difficult for us to grasp the depth of Christ’s love for us as he goes to the cross. What could possibly motivate him to do such a thing for us? We are so unworthy. We don’t have something that God needs. We aren’t so lovely that God must show us love. No, it is by his grace that we are so loved!
ILLUST — Puritan John Bunyan once wrote, (SLIDE 10) “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to love humanity is amazing because we are so low, so mean, so vile, so undeserving. Love from Christ requires no beauty in the object of his beloved. It is an act of himself and from himself, not dependent on us. The Lord Jesus sets his heart to love us.”
Friends, because Jesus loves you as an act of grace, you can rest assured that in the gospel you are secure in his love. It is not dependent on you. As John Bunyan says, Christ will love “to the end of our lives, to the end of our sins, to the end of our temptations, to the end of our fears.”
Jesus has set his affection upon his own. He is good on his promises, he hears our cries, and he has compassion to save, even through the humiliation of the cross.
How does Jesus illustrate this reality? He shows the purpose of his coming death through the simple act of washing feet.
MAIN 2 — Purpose For Going To The Cross (vv. 2-11). (SLIDE 11a)
Go back to the text with me. (SLIDE 11b) The Passover meal is in progress and Judas is already prompted by Satan to betray Jesus. Look at verses 3-5 again. READ vv. 3-5.
Did you notice how John describes Jesus’ authority and power in verse 3? All things are under Jesus’ power! What!?!? Can you grasp the gravity of that? We often think so many things are out of control these days, but no! All things are under the power of Jesus, all will bend the knee, every tongue will confess, all sin and evil will be destroyed! With this kind of power and the knowledge that Judas was about to betray him, you’d think that Jesus would just blast Judas at that very moment!
But he doesn’t. Instead, Jesus gets up during the meal and literally takes on the job of a slave. (SLIDE 11c) Let me explain what is going on here:
A typical Jewish meal was held at a low table with thin mats for guests to lay upon with their left arm underneath and their right arm available to eat. Their legs and feet would be fanned out around the outer edge of the room because their heads and arms would be near the table.
Foot washing was a task normally reserved for the lowliest of servants. People wore sandals in the 1st century and they walked on dirt roads that were covered in animal feces and trash and whatever else got thrown out in the streets. So your feet would be pretty gross in these days.
Peers did not wash one another’s feet. In fact, Jews wouldn’t even allow Jewish slaves to wash feet, this was a job reserved for Gentile slaves! Scholars have found zero evidence in Jewish or Greco-Roman sources of a superior washing the feet of an inferior. So you have to understand that it was a complete shock that Jesus would do a task reserved for the lowest and most reviled people in society.
Yet here is Jesus, taking off his outer garment, wrapping a towel around his waist, literally dressing like a slave, washing one-by-one the feet of his disciples, including Judas!
This would have been so embarrassing for the disciples that it probably left them in stunned silence. But never fear! Peter is here to speak up when others don’t know what to say! He’s a speak first, think later kind of guy.
In verse 6 when Jesus comes around to Peter’s spot at the table, he says what everyone else is probably thinking: Jesus, there’s no way I’m going to let you, the Messiah, wash my feet. That doesn’t make any sense!
And yet in Jesus’ response we see that this washing of his disciples’ feet is a symbolic act that points to something greater. (SLIDE 11d) READ v. 7.
This is a premonition of what the disciples are going to feel in about 24 hours. They will watch Jesus be arrested, tried, beaten, crucified, and buried. They will not understand in that moment what Jesus is doing. But later they will understand after his resurrection and ascension.
You see, Jesus’ symbolic act of washing the disciples’ feet pointed ahead to the grander purpose of his love for them. Philippians 2:7-8 says that Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
And so Jesus says to Peter in verse 8, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” In other words, this symbol of foot washing points to the ultimate and perfect cleansing from sin that we receive from Jesus. (SLIDE 11e) Unless you are washed clean by his blood, you have no part with him. This is the calling to full repentance and surrender in the gospel. Trust in Christ, receive the free gift of salvation, give your life to him, and then take up your cross to follow in his steps.
This is where we get to the final part of our text where Jesus applies his symbolic act as an illustration of what he expects of his disciples.
MAIN 3 — Expectation of His Followers in Light of the Cross (vv. 12-17). (SLIDE 12a)
I love how the story turns here in verse 12. Jesus finishes up with the washing of his disciples’ feet, then puts his regular garments back on, then reclines at the table with these men who are in awkward silence.
He says, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Of course they don’t understand. The miracle-worker, the sage teacher, the one who has so captivated them with his power and his authority…the very Son of God has treated them as though they were honored guests and he was merely a servant. How can this be? What kind of love is this?
Jesus is someone who does not ask his disciples to do something he hasn’t already done himself. (SLIDE 12b) This is not merely good leadership skills; it reveals the glorious humility of Jesus, the one who has all things under his power, who went to the cross for you and me.
ILLUST — I recently heard a story about two giants of the evangelical movement from about 50 years ago, Kenneth Kantzer and Carl Henry. These two pastor-theologians were pioneers in training pastors, supporting churches, and establishing a thriving movement of gospel-centered evangelical leaders in America.
Toward the end of their careers when they were in their 80s, they were being interviewed in front of a bunch of ministry leaders and pastors about their longevity and influence. The interviewer asked how they remain humble and teachable and motivated to serve others through decade after decade of fruitful ministry.
There was some awkward silence. These two leaders had so much they could brag about, they could have made their work their identity, they could have demanded that others serve them because they were so important.
But after a few seconds of silence, with tears in his eyes, Carl Henry muttered into the microphone, “How can anyone be arrogant when they stand next to the cross?”
Here was a man who came to know deep in his heart the answer to Jesus’ question, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Carl Henry saw the scorn of the cross, the humiliation of the Son of God, the love of Jesus to the uttermost. And when he realized what Jesus had done for him and stood in the shadow of the cross, his whole world was turned upside down. And humility and surrender is the only proper response.
This is the impact of this shocking reversal of the Messiah taking the role of a servant. Jesus makes clear his expectation that we would follow his example. He does this with two parallel metaphors in verse 16:
(SLIDE 12c) Servant / master = typical language of households or businesses
(SLIDE 12d) Messenger / sender = typical language of governments or kingdoms
In John 13, Jesus is making very clear what he expects of his followers after his death, resurrection, and ascension. Remember, this whole section of chapters 13-17 are Jesus’ encouragements and instructions for the disciples as they will navigate the establishment of the church age in the midst of a hostile environment.
This is what Jesus so boldly demonstrates to his own disciples: If the Lord of the universe is willing to wipe the dirt and trash and excrement off your feet, if he is willing to go the cross to be beaten, mocked, spit upon, and brutally killed as he bears the wrath of your sins, if he loves you that much…show the world that you are my disciples, Jesus says, by being willing to do the same. Show them what I am like. Let them feel and know the love and compassion and humility of your Savior through your own sacrificial actions and selfless concern for others. This will point them to Jesus and be a witness to his work on the cross that is our only saving hope.
You see friends, Jesus says that the servant is not above the master. If Jesus loves us to the uttermost with an inexhaustible love, going to the cross to love us to his very last breath, then we cannot think that our path should be any different.
APPLY
Let me close with a practical framework that can help us think about whether we are walking the same path as Jesus, like a messenger or emissary who represents the King.
ILLUST — Paul David Tripp wrote a book called Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, and in this book he describes what an ambassador of Jesus will represent: (SLIDE 13)
The message of the King — Do my words underline or undermine Jesus?
The methods of the King — How are my actions or responses pointing to Jesus?
The character of the King — Are the desires of my heart aligned with Jesus?
If we shape our lives around these priorities, we will show the world through our words and deeds the glorious truth about our humble Savior.