Pre-screening of Christ's Mission

John 13

verse 1 - ..... Jesus loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Even if Jesus knows that His disciples are quarreling who's the greatest (Luke 22:24) and did not care to wash their dirty, smelly, stinking feet after walking several miles before eating (which was a cultural practice in Middle East), even if he knows that Judas will betray Him few hours from that time, even if Peter will deny Him later on, and even if His disciples will desert Him for a time ..... Jesus showed them what LOVE really is, and He gave them an example (verse 15). Instead of giving a sermon on cleaning dirty feet and 10-steps how to become a servant, He himself stood up and showed them how to serve each other with humility.

verse 2 - And supper being ended (this means supper has just begun and on-going)
verse 4 – Jesus rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took towel and girded Himself.

Imagine everybody is eating and busy arguing, Jesus interrupted on His meal and took the attitude of a servant – by taking off His outer garment and girding a towel around His waist, because no one dared to do the task of a servant. While His disciples were busy conversing, thinking about themselves, thinking what's the next opportunity to brag themselves and ride on Jesus' popularity, Jesus was preparing to show them how to be a servant, how to be humble, and how to love people despite of their failures and weaknesses.

Verse 5 - ..... He poured out water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet

It is interesting to know that Jesus prepared everything and made sure there is water for washing and cleansing His disciples feet. In Luke 22:7-13, He ordered His disciples to look for an upper room for Passover celebration, where a man was “carrying a pitcher of water”.

This is just an ultimate example of loving others and how Jesus loved the world (John 3:16), by humbling Himself even if He is the Master, even if He is God. Love is what the disciples need to continue on Jesus’ ministry. Otherwise, they will all be “clanging cymbals” (1 Cor 13:1), and without Jesus’ character in them, for God is Love.

Jesus involved Himself in the dirt of His disciples’ feet, without saying a thing. That’s how we should love other people – getting involved, not much word, but just doing it.

Verse 8 – Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!"

If we refuse to be washed – constant spiritual cleansing (1 John 1:9), we will not enjoy our fellowship with Christ. Even if we were cleansed by bath (verse 10) – which is being washed and saved in the blood of Jesus, we need constant cleansing because our feet gets dirty, we always sin.

Verse 10 – .... therefore He said, “You are not all clean”

This is a dangerous situation for many people who profess to be in Christ. When in fact, they really are not, like Judas. Same way, many Christians claim to be so, but they are not really in Christ. Meaning, they always look like Christians, speak like Christians, walk like Christians, but not really Christians.

Despite all these, Jesus loved everybody …. Showing that we must love even our enemies. For who knows, they can always come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, like Saul (Paul). Unfortunately, Judas took the wrong decision and missed the work of Christ.

Verse 16 – Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

Even if Jesus had brought down Himself through humility, He is still the Lord – He is still the God. Yet He came down and be like us that we can call Him friend (John 15:15).

Summary:

He took out His kingship outer garment, and wrapped himself in humanity’s linen towel, taking the form of a servant – but He is still God, to wash us and cleanse us from our sins (our dirty feet). He did this to give us example of servanthood, humility, and love - to God and to others, even our enemies (even our Judas’!). To wash their feet (forgive them), and make it dry (to love them without condition). Verse 12, “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again”. After coming to wash our sins, He rose again from the dead, He took back His kingship garment and sat down at the right hand of God – waiting for us to eat with Him again and have fellowship with Him. Meanwhile, we do communion here on earth to remember and prepare ourselves for that bigger and better feast with Jesus in heaven.

What does it say?

• About God’s Love for us (verse 1) – remember that Jesus is few hours from death (during passover feast, which is illegal according to Jewish law) and He wants to leave an important message and thought to His disciples.

What does it mean?

• God loved us that He came to become a servant, took out His garment of heavenly kingship, wrapped Himself in the towel of humanity, offered Himself for us that we might become clean (righteous before God), even while we were yet sinners (proud, bragging, unwilling to serve like His disciples).

What does it teach?

• That we should love one another too, and by that, people would know that we are His disciples. We too should take the form of servant and wash others (forgive them) and love them (make them dry and comfortable) – verse 5.

What does it require?

• Willingness to be cleaned – we cannot enjoy fellowship with the Lord if we have dirty feet (sin in our heart). Don’t be the attitude of Peter (during that time).
• Humility – we should be humble and available to be a servant of Christ. Not like Peter who had the arrogance, and even want to take advantage the goodness of the Lord. We are not to abuse and take advantage of the goodness of others too. Yet, we know Peter had matured through the years and followed Christ faithfully even to his death being crucified upside down - thinking he's not worthy being crucified like Christ.
• Constant communion with Christ and with fellow believers. Sit back and dine with Jesus at the bread of His Word regularly.
• Know that Jesus is still our God and Master, even if He called us friends.

Why Do We Need To Worship God?

This is a question many people are asking themselves and others. Why do we need to worship God? Is God some kind of low esteem that He requires worship from people? Is God on some cosmic egoistic trip that He gets mad if we don’t worship Him? The answer is NO. God is totally fine trillions and gazillions of years even before He created the earth and the whole universe, and every living thing including you and me. In fact, God doesn’t need us – He is complete in Himself. He can exist even without humanity, from eternity to eternity. God had already set-up His worship teams of angels long before we were created. A third of them rebelled because of pride and became fallen angels – the primary worship leader then became Lucifer or Satan (Isaiah 14:12).

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Gen 1:31). When God created the earth and everything in it, it was perfect. And in itself, it reflects the marvelous wonder of God’s power and majesty. The creation itself brings praise and glory to God. Not a single person on earth who could have seen the beauty of creation would not have marveled nor have been filled with awe. Jesus said in Luke 19:40 that if people would be silent and not worship, the stones and rocks could not just wait to burst out in praise and adoration to its Creator! Never mind the trees, the flowers, the birds, the wind, and the seasons, the moon, and the stars – they are worshiping God everyday, and you could not just ignore them.

Now, the Lord created man and woman in His own image (Gen 1:27). “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” says Paul in Ephesians 2:9. We too are God’s creation, in fact the most important of all God’s creation, and we must reflect God’s glory in our lives and bound to do good works. But we cannot do it because sin separated us from God – and all have sinned without exception (Rom 3:23). Yet because of God’s love for us, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and pay all our sin at full price. And that is the greatest gift we can have from God – only if we believe to be so and accept it by faith (Eph 2:8).

Having that gift of salvation alone is the most important reason why we should give thanks and worship to God the Father, who reconciled us back to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Expressing our worship and adoration to the God of our salvation here on earth is the best practice we can do. It is a glimpse of what’s going on now in heaven where the angels and saints are worshiping God at all times. If the king of rock, king of pop, king of jazz, and whatever king of music have died and did not waver to sing and entertain people and audiences and themselves – so much more the saints and angels of the Lord God Almighty will not waver to sing praise and worship to the King of kings and Lord of lords! It wouldn’t be boring as you think.

Are You Persecuting Christ?

Acts 9: 1 and 4-5

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples ….
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.

Are You Persecuting Christ?

Many times we are unaware that we Christians are persecuting our own Savior Jesus Christ. When we throw accusations to our fellow believers, when we talk against their back, when we hate them, when we wish they will fall, when we wish they will not succeed, when we pray the Lord won’t bless them, and the list goes on and on and on. It is sad but it is happening among the believers in Christ. Christians biting at each other.

It is what Saul (now Paul) had been doing before his conversion. He taught he was doing service to the Lord by letting the Christians persecuted, and remaining blameless by not doing the stoning himself but approving the stoning of Stephen. Yet later on, he wanted to do it hands-on by himself grabbing and throwing Christians into jail, thinking he became more zealous in his service to God doing that way.

Christians are no less than Saul in persecuting Christians and Christ when they are eager to put down those who don’t agree with their belief system and practices. When Christians practice “holier than thou” attitude and judge those who fall into temptation and sin instead of helping them up to recover. The principle of Matthew 25:40 still applies from the time of Jesus, to Paul, and until today – whatever we do to the least of our brothers (young or old, rich or poor, known or unknown) we do it to the Lord. And likewise, whatever we did not do to the least of our brothers – we did not do it to the Lord (v.45).

Jesus Christ shed His blood for everyone who believed and became Christians. He bought their eternal salvation with the price of His life, and stored their souls in heaven as trophies. And so, if we look down into other Christians for whom Christ died with intention of putting them down, or destroying them, or hurting them, or to be stumbling block for them – we are in fact trying to destroy or annul the very work of Christ at the cross. We are in fact persecuting Christ himself. Now in the afterlife, when we will be seeing each in heaven for eternity - could we bear them forever, if in this world we don’t love them?

What The Hell?

Luke 16:22-24

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

Read Luke 16:19-31

What The Hell?

Yes, you may say that ten times or hundred times, but there really is a hell. The very place people don’t want to think about, and trying to ease up in their conscience what the hell will be like by making an expression out of it. Jesus himself mentioned about hell to warn us how not to go there. Because of God’s love for us – He sent Jesus Christ to die at the cross to become the Bridge between us and God. For sin has separated us from God the Father. Hell was created for the Devil and his angels, and God sends no one there. It is a person’s decision and attitude that drives him or her to hell.

First, hell is a place of torment and agony (vv.23-24). If you don’t know what agony is, try hitting your fingernail with hammer and have a small glimpse of agony. There’s no such thing as partying in hell where friends are waiting – nope, torture is waiting. It is a solitary place where a person is being torn down but never consumed. The place where the worm eats up the body but never dies and the fire is never quenched (Mark 9:48). In our passage, the rich man was in desert of fire, choking in thirst, his saliva dried up, and no water.

Second, in hell, people have remembrance of their past lives (v. 25). The rich man wished that he should have not driven himself in that place of torment, but it’s too late. A person can live a good life, not hurting anyone, not ripping off other people, but still can go to hell. Our own righteousness and good works cannot rescue us from hell. By default, we are condemned already if we don’t believe in the finished work of Jesus (John 3:18). We need to satisfy God’s requirement to avoid hell - and only Jesus have satisfied that. There’s no other solution or way except Jesus.

Third, hell is an ultimate destination – there’s no temporary place holder and no transferring (v. 26-27). After appointment with death, the judgment follows whether a person goes to heaven or hell (Hebrews 9:27). There is no more appealing, no more pardoning – it is final. So, if a person is being convicted in his or her heart by the Holy Spirit to give his or her life to Jesus Christ – and decided to delay, it may be too late when death strikes at any moment.