Finally, Jesus explained why He had washed the feet of His disciples. This daily devotional looks at how submitting to God’s Will leads to humility.
Nuggets
- We are to submit to God, putting Him in control of our lives.
- It is our duty to imitate Christ’s example.
- Jesus, as the Son of God, is the master of all mankind.
Devotions in the Living Life Connected to Christ series
Once Peter accepted Jesus’ humility, He explained what He was doing. Let’s finish up looking at the last verses.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Christian humility is our yielding our dependence to Christ to serve Him and others.
Glossary
Explaining the Washing
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn. 13: 14 ESV)
We are to submit to God, putting Him in control of our lives.
Jesus had voluntarily washed the disciples’ feet. He, God’s own Son, humbled Himself to serve His disciples.
The Head of the church sure didn’t do something that was religious.
Anderson made a good point. Some people believe God is only God of the religious aspects of our lives.
Resource
Wrong.
God is Sovereign God over all of our lives. He has given authority to Jesus to rule over us. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Mt. 28: 18 ESV).
But Jesus was good at humility, wasn’t He? Washing others’ feet, laying down His life, submitting to God’s plan. He didn’t pull the divinity card.
Pope reminded us that Jesus was fixing to not only wash away the dust of human’s feet. He was also going to wash away the sins of the world.
“And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Ac. 22: 16 ESV).
Jesus calls us to be humble as He is. No, we can’t save the world from their sins.
We are to have the mind of Christ. Pope wrote, “The mind of Christ in His self-renunciation is the standard of the true Christian spirit.”
Resource
We are to be humble like Jesus. He is our example.
We need to be prepared to serve others.
Explaining the Example
“For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (Jn. 13: 15 ESV)
It is our duty to imitate Christ’s example.
God isn’t a God that sits in His throne, far away from us. He doesn’t cloud things in so much secrecy that we don’t have a clue as to His expectations of us.
Oh, no. God sent Jesus to show us exactly what He wants.
Kollock described it this way. He wrote, “They recorded the actions and the words of Jesus, that a living, lustrous, obligatory rule of conduct; that a visible commentary on God’s law might be presented for our imitation; that a light, unerring as the pillar of fire and cloud that led the Israelites, might be given to us to conduct us through this wilderness to the promised land that is on high.”
Resource
Why do we need to imitate Jesus? “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2: 5 KJV).
Let’s look at it in another translation. “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Phil. 2: 5 NLT).
I actually like both translations. When we think of mind, we think of intellect. That, to me, says we need to study and know Jesus so that we can make a conscious decision to follow Him.
But our attitude is something that we choose to have. I can choose to be happy, or I can choose to be sad. That choice is guided by Who Jesus was and is.
Hodge talked about disinterested service. The disinterested means Jesus was willing to give up the trappings of His Deity.
Resource
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
We talked about Jesus voluntarily washing the disciples’ feet. He voluntarily laid down His life so that we might be cleansed from our sins. He didn’t do that for His own glory.
Jesus died to accomplish the Plan of Salvation for God’s glory.
Hodge told us what Jesus’ example is.
- Jesus didn’t tempt God.
- He walked away from evil.
- He used Scripture to fight evil.
- He bore no resentment to the Plan God place Him under.
- He did not bully anyone to accept Him as Savior.
That is a real good start at imitating Jesus.
Explaining the Submission
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (Jn. 13: 16 ESV)
Jesus, as the Son of God, is the master of all mankind.
Some people just don’t know it yet.
Many worldview people think that they are their own masters. They are not.
Glossary
God is in control, and Jesus has authority over everything.
It is interesting that Jesus both used servant and messenger to give word pictures of what He was talking about.
A servant is someone who is doing a job for someone else. They don’t get to call the shots. They follow directions.
The messenger has a communication to convey to others. I like convey in that we just both take the message to others, and we must make sure they understand it.
That takes humility to do the conveying. We have to have a heart for other people.
It is not our message that we are taking. Oh, yes. We can be explaining it by using our experiences.
But that doesn’t make it our message. It is still God’s message.
God may call us to take the message across the house, across the workplace, across the state, or across the world. He calls each and every one of us to take it somewhere.
Devotions in the What Does It Mean? series
Making the Connections
When we think about all we’ve talked about in this series, we come up with a couple of things.
- God could ask us to do a lot of little things for others. No, they may not have Hollywood splash, but they are important in their own right. So, we need to do our best to accomplish them.
- We may not understand what God is asking us to do. Doesn’t matter. We need to just do it.
- Jesus’ priority is our salvation. Always has been. Always will be. We need to make the salvation of others a priority.
How Do We Apply This?
- Imitate Jesus’ humility.
- Be consistent in our beliefs and actions.
- Imitate Jesus
- Be happy
- Keep Jesus Lord of every aspect of our lives — spiritual or not.
- Study God’s Word so that we can imitate Jesus.
- Share Jesus’ attitude toward God
- Love as Jesus loved.
- Exhibit forgiveness and patience.
- Don’t place ourselves in the danger of temptation.
Glossary
Resource
Father God. Thank You for giving Jesus as an example for us. May our imitation of Him get to our heart level. Amen.
What do you think?
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