Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: It says there, then cometh he to Simon Peter, you have to wash his feet. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Peter said to him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Never, never, never.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Mether emphasizing a lesson for us all to embrace the cleansing only the Lord can provide.

Brett Meador: Peter saying no, never ever. But verse 8 Jesus said, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Then Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.

Kurt: After a discourse on who he is and why he came, Jesus began celebrating Passover with his disciples by washing their feet. But in observing the scene unfold, Pastor Brett Mether underscores what Jesus was demonstrating by this humble act. And that's the everlasting importance of being cleansed by the water of his word. More of this beloved passage on Today's Word.

Brett Meador: John chapter 13. We start out verse 1. It says, 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. Man, we could meditate on this verse just all night. It's such an amazing verse. There's a few things there I want you to see. First of all, Jesus knew that his hour had come. And this is where we begin the whole upper room scene. So we're right there at the very door of the cross in the story of Jesus here in John chapter 13 when he says, my hour is come.

Verse 2, and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him. There in verse 3 it says, Jesus knowing this is a huge thing. Verse 3 is giant. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. Then he rose up from supper, stripped himself, girded himself with a towel like a slave and started wiping toe jam from between the disciples' feet. Now the reason I say it so grossly like that is because what a shocker.

Here's God sitting with these goofy disciples who were arguing about which one of them is the greatest. And the greatest of them, who's that's even horrible to even say greatest compared to the disciples. But Jesus, he gets up and starts wiping their feet. Could you imagine? I mean, it's hard to imagine in our culture because the our culture doesn't have the equivalent of getting up and washing someone's feet. But you know, it might have an equivalent like, for example, some of our children's workers who are changing poopy diapers. Why would you do that? Well, they're being very Christlike.

Some of the most impressive people that I would say are amazing to me are the busiest just serving. This is very possible. You could drop your kid off to one of our, you know, preschool teachers who happens to be a Navy SEAL and also a medical doctor at the same time. And I could go on people in our parking lot. We got guys out in our parking lot like high-level CEO, but they would never say it. To me, that's where I start to see that's kind of a Christlike thing. You're not there trying to puff yourself up or say, look at me and who I am and what I've achieved.

I'm just always impressed at people that are watching kids and volunteering to park cars. Like it's just amazing that. It's a very Christlike thing. And you know, who are the ones in the story that didn't even notice that Jesus did that? The disciples that were arguing about which one of them is the greatest. And I it makes me a little nervous. As a churchgoer, how many times have I been to a church service and didn't give thought to who it is that's washing feet? It's kind of embarrassing when you think about it. But be that as it may, I just love that Christlike kind of attitude.

You know, it 's funny how how does Jesus think to get to the place where he does that? I know that's almost weird to say, but I think verse 3, this is the secret for you and me. And he's given us a huge, huge thing here. Please tune into this because I think this is important. Jesus verse 3, knowing the Father have given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and he was going to God. You see, Jesus knew where he came from past. He knew where he was going and he knew that he was the inheritor of all things.

And guess what? As a Christian who's a follower of Jesus, we get to kind of say the same thing. We know our past. You know, Jesus stripped himself down and girds himself like a servant. Jesus wasn't afraid to do that. Why? Because he knew where he was from. He came from heaven. Jesus, he was there at the beginning of creation. So Jesus was going to humble himself not in any way insecure. He knew that that's what the right move would be to be humble. And I guess the question I would ask you and me, what would be that which would stop us from doing the same thing?

Probably the single word pride. Pride is it. We're prideful, we're arrogant. You don't want to do something gross, dirty, smelly. Who wants to touch anybody's toe jam? That's gross. But Jesus knew who he was. He had no identity crisis. He was more interested in doing the will of the Father than he was worried about who he was or wasn't. Boy, if we could get to that place, that'd be great. I love when you hear stories about people that were sort of not really, you know, all about themselves. There's a great story of a guy named Percy Johnson, who was famous sort of San Diego investor back in the day.

He attended Oxford University and a group of his friends were doing lawn bowling, you know, with those little balls out on the lawn of Oxford University, when an older man was just kind of standing out there watching them play. And they felt awkward, and so they sort of laughed and said, hey, let's ask the old guy if he wants to play with us. So they went over and asked. He said, sure, I'll play with you. And so they were playing. After a while they kind of asked him, you know, so what's your name? And he said, Albert.

And um and they said, Albert who? And he said, Albert Einstein. And they said, relativity? And he said, yep. They didn't know. You know, it was back in the day before Albert Einstein was all that famous, but he was just a guy on playing lawn bowling with some guys. Like maybe consider when you say Albert Einstein, you think, oh, that's the smartest guy in the in the world. But he didn't make sure everybody knew that. In contrast, when I was just a little kid, I was 5 years old and going to the Remember the This isn't the the same thing that you think it is, but anybody old enough to remember the Dancing Waters at Disneyland?

And my grandparents were taking us to Disneyland to see the Dancing Waters. Well, we went down there and we were walking, you know, hand in hand with my grandparents when suddenly this entourage of people and then to my shock, and I even knew who this was as a 5-year-old kid, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my eyes. It was John Wayne as he was walking out. It was so it was like I got to see John Wayne. Wow. You know, by the way, there's a kind of a cool story that is told about how in the 3 weeks before he died, he accepted Jesus Christ.

A very interesting little story about that. So I think we'll we'll see him very possibly in heaven. But you know, you compare, are you trying to be large and seen the biggest guy, biggest most important person, girl at work and want to be known as that? Or are you putting that all aside being secure and knowing where you've been, being secure and knowing where you're going and saying, I don't have to worry about that. I'm going to be like Jesus. That's really important. Well, so where are we going? That's important. Well, as we keep going here, now we see him pouring water into a basin.

I wanted to bring that up real quick because that sort of brings an imagery that might seem familiar. Water for washing poured in a basin. This is where the Jews would have remembered one of their most celebrated events and one of the things they did in the temple. They had what they didn't call a basin, but they called it the brass laver or the bronze laver in the temple. I mean, it was used for washing the hands and the feet of the priests before doing their ritual service. Exodus 30 verses 18 through 21. And that basin, the laver of the temple Does anybody remember it was made of bronze?

But does anybody remember what where did they get all the bronze to make it? Where did Moses get the bronze to make the laver for the tabernacle? The ladies' mirror. Remember the Egyptian women were like when the Jews left, they were so the Egyptians were ready like, get out of here, Jews. The women just gave all their jewels and mirrors and stuff to the Jews and said, take our stuff, just get out of here. And they they went out with all kinds of stuff. Well, they got all these mirrors because the Egyptian women were into mirrors.

And what they were is they were just brass little paddles, like ping pong paddles, brass that were shined, polished so much you could see your reflection. And the Jews got all that. Well, when Moses said it's time to build the laver, I need some brass, all the women said, we've got brass. And they took the mirrors and they made it into the laver where they would wash. Wonder if the priests could see their own reflection as they washed in the water of the laver. Does that ring a bell about some connections in the Bible? The laver is washing in the water, which washing in the water is a type of what?

The word. Remember Ephesians 5:25, Christ washes his church in the water of the word. Now you are clean by the word that I have spoken unto you. How shall a young man Psalm 119 cleanse his way? Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. The water of the word is the washing agent. So the laver is a picture of the word, but it's made out of the mirrors. And I think that's interesting, especially when you remember James chapter 1 verses 23 and 24 where it says, for if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass or literally a mirror for he beholdeth himself and then goes his way straight away forgetting what manner of man he was.

The word is not only compared to water, but it's also compared to a mirror. Have you ever noticed when you're reading your Bible you're like, me, me, and mostly bad stuff unless you're a prideful person, you know, you read about Jesus loving people, me. That's probably not true. You and I are more like the you know, the woman caught in adultery and you can say, me. Uh you know, Peter saying stupid stuff all the time, me. But it's a mirror. When you look in the word, it's a mirror. And and the goal isn't to not just forget what you look like, but to fix it.

That's what the idea. So anyway, I I think it's interesting this basin and the water. It's all beautiful pictures of, you know, the things we know from the Old Testament. But Jesus humbled himself before the Father and washed these disciples' feet. So the first section verses 1 through 5 is humility. The second section is holiness verses 6 through 11. It says there, then cometh he to Simon Peter, you know, to wash his feet. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.

Now you got to give Peter credit for a few seconds before we ridicule him. Cuz he at least is the disciple goes, what? You shouldn't be washing my feet. What's going on here? What Like how did this happen? At least Peter's You know, you got to give him credit for a little bit here before he puts his foot in his mouth here shortly. But Jesus says, man, what I do you don't understand, you don't know now, but I'll you'll know later. Verse 8 Peter said unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

Verse 8 really cracks me up because Kenneth Weist, if you ever want a good Greek word studies in the Greek New Testament, Kenneth Weist's word studies in the New Testament Greek, he kind of goes on a really interesting pattern of of this sentence that Peter says. And the English doesn't do it justice. You know, here it just says in verse 8 Peter says, thou shalt never wash my feet, the end. But um if you do the word study, you break all the words, I want to show you the words that are employed here in this sentence that Peter uses.

And the words are, you know, the word wash is nipto. I'll show you that in a second. He uses as a sort of a preposition. I'll say it again. He's he's like emphatic. I'm going to say this kind of over and over again is the idea. And then never ever the Greek word ion forever perpetually. And then no in answer direct questions expecting an affirmative answer. You're expecting an affirmative answer, but he you get a negative. That's a special word, the ou word there. And then he forbids him. I forbid it. Forbear. God forbid, never.

So if you break this down in the original Greek language, the sentence actually would look like this. Wash. I'll say it again. Never ever. No, I forbid you to wash my feet. I just want you to see the emphatic nature of what Peter is saying. And then 10 seconds later he's going to ask for a whole bath of his whole body. This is just Peter being funny to me. It cracks me up a little bit. So never, never, never, he says over and over again. So then what happens? Peter saying no, never ever. But verse 8 Jesus said, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

Then verse 9 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. Just give me a whole bath. Peter's, no, never, never, never. And now I got to wash you. Okay. Just Where's the pressure washer, man? Just wash my whole body. Like Peter's just going from one extreme to the other. Can you see fickleness like that in your own life? Where you kind of 1 minute you're with the Lord saying 1 thing and 1 minute with the Lord you're saying kind of another thing. It's better just to go with the flow of what Jesus is doing.

Don't fight with the Lord. Just be at peace with what God is doing in your life. I'm reminded of James 3:14 through 18 that talks about, you know, if you have bitter envying or strife in your heart, glory not. Don't lie against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is from below, earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and strife is, he says, there's confusion and every evil work. But then he goes on and talks about what's good. If it's if wisdom that's above, it's first pure and peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit without partiality, without hypocrisy.

And while the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace, Peter's more ruled by the urgent craziness. But the wise Christian says, no, I'm just going to go with the flow of what God is doing. This is important. Well, then verse 10 Jesus said unto him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all. Why does he say but not all? Anybody? Judas Iscariot. Now this tells us something about Judas. We are We asked, was Judas saved? Well, he hadn't committed the sin yet completely.

That's going to happen later in this chapter, but we know he's not saved. So that's kind of interesting. Why wasn't Judas clean? The answer is simple. What saved a person in the Old Testament times was to believe. Were you a believer? Abraham believed God and it was counted for righteousness. So the problem with Judas isn't that he betrayed Jesus with the 30 pieces of silver. He hasn't done that yet, but he 's not part of the crew of believers there because he just didn't believe in Christ. Those other guys were already clean because they believed just like Abraham believed and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Now there's two Greek words I want you to note here that I think are important. The first word is the Greek word nipto which is the word that's used for wash in John 13 here verses 5 through 6, 8, 12 and 14. It's the main word used for washing. The word nipto means to wet a single part of the body, your hands or your feet or your face. That's a specific Greek word for that. The second word that is used is in chapter 13 verse 10. Look at verse 10 when Jesus said, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet.

Jesus uses the next word. The next word is luo, which means to bathe the whole person, like to take a full-on bath. Verse 10 should read kind of like this perhaps for us. Jesus said unto him, he that is washed luo, the whole body needeth not to wash nipto his feet, but is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all. So the the point is that are you luo or do you need to be liptod or nuod? Which one? Well, that's kind of important. The luo is the person who's saved. They've been washed from head to toe.

But it seems that Jesus is saying, you guys are all washed. You're all washed, you know, luo. But you need to be niptod. Why do they need to have their feet washed? Well, in in practical terms they've been walking the dusty streets of Jerusalem and their feet were dirty practically. There's kind of a an image there of what happens when you and I as Christians we're saved, we're washed. Our sins are remembered no more. They're put as far as these past, present, future sin is done away with even if it's suicide. Remember we talked about that?

Jesus died for that sin too and you've been washed. But you say, then why do I need to be sort of niptod if I've already luod? The answer is because you know, you touch this dirty earth. We live in this world and we become dirtied practically by our own sin. That's why Jesus said, you must If you want to be part of me, you got to kind of keep the feet clean. You might say a short list of unconfessed sin in your life. You know, what happens if you sin and then you're driving down the freeway and you crash and then you die or you're going to hell cuz you sinned and you never got a chance to confess that particular sin?

No, Jesus died. If you're a Christian, he died for all your sins. But what you do need to do Hopefully you don't get run over on the way home. But when you get home you should probably say, Lord, forgive me for that bad attitude or that thing that I thought or that sinful thing that I did. That's why you know, the Bible tells us if we confess our sins 1 John 1:9, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what the Bible says. So confession is to sort of reconcile your account.

And I believe that's what Jesus's foot washing is doing, sort of a keeping things clean, reconciling practically the disciples being purified and and on that sort of lipto nuod nuance, which is important. Confession is good by the way for you. That 's why we're told, confess your sins one to another. It's a good thing to confess. Billy was lined up next to his five other brothers. Their father said, which one of you pushed the outhouse down the ravine into the crick? And 7-year-old Billy said, Pa, I cannot tell a lie. It was me. I studied George Washington and the cherry tree.

Pa said, go and pick a switch, son. Anybody have to pick a switch? Yeah, I did too. Go pick a switch. That means pick your stick that your dad's going to spank you with. Go pick a switch. And Billy said, but Pa, he said, when George Washington told the truth he confessed, his father forgave him. And the Pa said, that may be true, son, but George Washington's father wasn't in the cherry tree. Confession. It's good for the soul. Jesus took our consequences of for our sin. And with his death on the cross he would reconcile that for us.

Well, two more verses. Verse 12. So it says, after he had washed their feet, he had taken his garments and was set down again. He said unto them, know ye what I have done to you? Verse 13. You call me master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. Notice the word so is in italics. You can say for I am. Verse 14. If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Okay, so we've seen a couple sections. Verses 1 through 5 we see the humility, we see holiness in verses 6 through 12. And then in verses 13 through 17 we talk about happiness. Holiness by the way leads to happiness. Happy are you, Jesus says right here in verse 17, if you do these things. Do what things? Wash one another's feet.

Now this becomes a question. Should the church have foot washing services? Well, I don't blame churches that do. I wouldn't argue with them. If they want to do foot washing services they can do that. Their their church that might be considering an ordinance like communion or baptism. But most of us believe that this is Jesus talking more about having a servant's heart, not literally as much about the washing dirt from the There was literally dirt on the disciples' feet from their wearing sandals in Bible times. I think Jesus was talking about being a servant and humbling ourselves.

So that's kind of an important thing. You know, something that along with, you know, communion and baptism, foot washing should be right up there. At least I would say we need to model a servant attitude in our lives. And the question I would ask you, when was the last time you engaged just an act of laying aside your reputation and your authority and power and prestige? Just lay all that aside. When was the last time you did that just and did some act of service that is maybe the other people around you might say, that's beneath you.

Why are you doing that? Well, I think it'd be good for us. There's an assignment for you this week. What does it mean for you to wash the feet of people around you? And look for an opportunity to humble yourself, strip yourself of your titles, your prowess, your prominence, step out and serve someone else even if others think you're a weirdo for doing it. Look for that opportunity. Amen.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Mether is drawing important challenging truths from John chapter 13 for humility, holiness, and happiness through the example of Jesus in both attitude and action on Today's Word. And in just a moment Pastor Brett will be back to join me and share some great hope for you. But first our teacher Brett Mether is the senior pastor of Athei Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor at Athei for almost 30 years where the church has grown into one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest. Each day Pastor Brett will bring you a verse-by-verse study of God's word.

If you've missed any portion of our time today, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. That's todayswordradio.com. Okay, I have Pastor Brett with me now. Brett, I imagine there is somebody listening who might be feeling some anxiety about all the things that are going on in the world right now, maybe even some stress about their own future. And they want to know for certain that there is hope for them. Can you share the hope that Jesus revealed for us in the Bible?

Brett Meador: The hope that Jesus shared, Kurt, I think is really based on him, which I love. If my hope is based on my own doing or being right, then I don't have a lot of hope. I have a lot of fear. But my confidence, the peace that I have is really through Christ. The Bible says, Jesus said, you know, this world tries to offer a peace, but it's sort of a pseudo peace. It's not real. But Jesus said, peace give I to thee, not as the world gives. And so that's where we really find our peace is putting our trust in Christ alone and then knowing that he'll get you where you need to go ultimately to heaven.

And Christ is the way, the truth and life. No man comes to the Father in heaven but by Christ. So we really put all of our trust and hope in him. And it's a true not just a hope like I really hope this happens, but it's an absolute expectation of Christ coming through with his promise.

Kurt: So Pastor Brett, how does it work for someone who says, hey, I'm all in for Jesus? What is their next step?

Brett Meador: Well, once you repent of your sin, that just means acknowledge that you're a sinner and you acknowledge before God and then to seal the deal you just ask. That's the simple part. You ask to be saved and and to be forgiven. And that's where Romans 10 9 and 10 says, confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus was raised up from the dead by the Father in heaven. And it says, if you confess that and believe it, then it says you will be saved. That locks you in. It's it's nothing you did to earn it or deserve it.

It's a free gift from God.

Kurt: That's great news, Pastor Brett. Thank you. And friend, if you've chosen to accept God's free gift of salvation today, we have some next steps on our website that'll provide encouragement and support as you begin this new relationship as a Christian. Just go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link New Believer. That's todayswordradio.com and click the link New Believer. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time Pastor Brett will look at when Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Mether is an outreach of Athei Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.