“I Have Set You an Example” | John 13:1–17

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Well, welcome back to another platinum episode of The Bible Guys. We have Wesley Woods in the studio with us today and I'm Jeff Forster on one half of the regular Bible Guys. But we elevated our game this week by having you join us. Chris Sarbas out of the country doing some really great ministry and anti human trafficking ministry down in the Dominican Republic called Transform One. So we have you with us today and this is such a good one because today it is one of my favorite segments. We have a segment called stump the pastor Yeah. These are fun because our listeners sometimes will send in questions and you can do that on info at Thebibleguys dot com. You can send in questions through YouTube or any other platform that you're watching on that lets you leave comments, and Desiree kind of goes through those and then she gives us the ones she thinks we can't answer. Yeah. So yes, so today we have one. We have one from Alexandra p so Hi. Alexandra yea, so glad that you sent this in. And she said, and this is a great question, she said, why are there so many denominations if we all follow the same Bible. Yeah, that's a good question, good one, So. Good luck with that. I'm gonna go ahead, and we've only been asking this question for let me see carry the two thousand years. Yes, I think at a very I'm going to speak from a very high level. I think what happens typically we have God's word, we have the Bible. Most Christian denominations believe the entire Bible. But what happens, I think sometimes is different parties will they will read a certain verse in place greater emphasis on one particular verse over another, and then you kind of split off from there. And again I'm speaking at a very very high level, and we know certain things that happened through history and why splits took place. But at a high level, I think you read a verse and it talks about something like, oh, yeah, this is a core tenet of the faith. I'm gonna surround my belief system around that thing. Yeah there, ye, So there's several core elements to this one. Historically, some denominations have a strong belief in the inerrancy of scripture and the authority of scripture. Everything begins and ends with God's perfect word. And God's words are perfect, especially in the original autographs, the original manuscripts. God gave it to us perfectly exactly what He wanted us to know, and so then it has absolute authority over the Christian Right. This isn't something that we just kind of take as advice, but rather this is what God has said is true. Now, there's a large segment of Christianity that believes that that solo scripture is what it mean right, the Bible is is is the final authority. There are other Christian denominations that would say the Bible plus religious tradition, what does the church say, what is the pope or the archbishop or whatever, what does this leader say, and what is it has been our tradition. So for us, for you and me, for the church that we lead, we would say church tradition is second to scripture. Scripture is as long as church tradition aligns with scripture, then okay. But we never have anything extra outside of what the Bible says. And then why do we have different denominations even within groups of Christians that believe that idea of that scripture, and it's usually an interpretation things. It's going to be how they read a sentence or how they read a word, and how they would cross reference things. So I would say, and I always encourage people to say, probably ninety percent of your faith beliefs should be based on the clearly presented words on the page. Right. The Bible is its own best commentary. It's going to explain it. So and then there is the necessary need to cross reference, to be able to expand on an idea, to continue to learn more and more and more about an idea. Where God says, you know, in the Old Testament, an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth, right, So there should be a just consequence for bad behaviors, especially criminal behaviors. But then later Jesus says, you've heard it said, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, But I say right. And then he says, on a personal level, forgive one another, love one another right, And so Jesus then expands this idea. So from a government standpoint, government should always be working for justice individuals. Jesus calls us always to forgiveness the Bible's its own best commentary. The one part of the Bible explain the other part of the Bible. Jesus doesn't go against the Bible. Jesus just explains the Bible, right, he explains the rest of words and so theologically. Then there are a lot of those issues that you can read it one way and when you only read it that way, but you don't take it in the context of all the other times that mentions it. Yeah, well, then that's where we start to get some denominational. Ang When I was super young and reading the Bible, I remember a pastor talking about never take a passage as a standalone. Oh right, you want to look at it in reference to the chapter, in relation to the book and the history around that book. So you just never you can take a snapshot of anything and try to make it be whatever you want it. Yeah. There's over thirty thousand verses in the Bible and covers almost every facet in human life. You can make the Bible saynything you want to say. Well, I like to tell that joke sometimes that one guy, he didn't know much about the Bible and he's like, God, I just need you to tell me. Tell me what I should do, and whatever I read first is what I'm gonna do as a Bible and says, and Judas went out and hanged himself, and he slammed the Bible. Oh no, no, now, now God show me he opened it up in the next phrases, go and do likewise. So if you take sentences just a snapshot, yeah, what happens is it's easy to take them out of context. So we have to read scripture in context, asking what is this being said to the original reader, the original listener, and how does it apply in my life? And then what is the truth God is saying that can be applied all the time. So is there a command to obey? Is there a promise to claim? Is there a sindo avoid right? Those kinds of things, So we would ask those, But then ultimately, when it comes down to the big picture, for a biblically centered Christian, whether regardless of the denomination they come from, usually it's it's peripheral issues. It's secondary issues that we disagree about, right, it's not court is the core issues are Jesus Christ is the virgin born son of God. He lived a sinless life. He taught us the best way to live. He paid the price for our sin with his blood on the cross. He took the punishment for our sin and his body on the cross. He was buried for three days and rose again. He ascended back to heaven after giving us the commission to go and tell everybody the gospel, the good news. They can have relationship with Jesus. He taught us at salvation is by grace through faith, not by works. And someday he's going to come back and judge us. Right, We're going almost all Christians believe, you know, Biblical Christians believe those things. Yes, And then it's going to be the peripheral edges where we disagree music styles, preferred translations, certain behaviors or worship rituals and things like that. That's a lot of it, or sometimes core doctrinal things with regard to application of certain doctrines. So then Augustine back in the six hundred said he had a really great statement. He said, with with regard to non essentials, we have liberty. With essentials, we must have unity. But in all things we must show charity. And back then charity would have meant love, love. And so when it comes to those things, like I mentioned the things virgin born, son of God, salvation by grace through faith, you know, death, burial, resurrection, those kinds of things. Those are essentials, right, Like you're not a Christian if you don't believe those those are essentials. We have to have basics, right, We have to have unity on those things, or then you're just religious but not a Christian. But on the non essential things like music styles and those kinds of things, we have liberty. So then we can give liberty but to everybody. But in all things we show love to one another. There and I was with I'll give this one last statement because I think we have the time for it. I was with a with the Pope of the Coptic Church. His name is Pope Tauadro's the second we were doing some work in Egypt, and he had leveraged some of his influence to protect some non Coptic Christians in Egypt, and so I thanked him for it. And we had spoken for hours. I'd met with him two different times, so probably an hour and a half of talking with him only through a translator from English to Arabic. And then I thanked him for this, and he was shaking my hand as we're going to leave, and he stepped in and in crystal clear English, I'd forgotten that he graduated from or attended one of the universities in London or in England, you know. But in chrystal clear English, he said, the names on our church signs only serve to tell other Christians why we disagree with each other. Wow, but the blood of our martyrs is mingled. And he said it was during the Isis times. And he said, when Isis goes to cut a man's head, he doesn't ask him are you Coptic or Baptist? He asks what about Jesus? And then he cuts his head. And he said, so, anybody who's willing to die for Jesus, I'm willing to try to protect for Jesus. And there's something about that that phrase, though, that the names on our church signs only tell other Christians why we disagree. Lost people don't know the difference between a Baptist and a Pentecostal. They don't know. And lost people, to be completely honest, don't. Care, No, they don't. They just want these for their ailment. That's all they're looking for, that's right. So instead of getting obsessed about the peripheral issues and making those the primary issues. Right, we have to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus is the virgin born son of God, who lived a sinless life. He paid the price on the cross, he rose again, salvations by grace through faith, and we were all given account to God someday. Those are the really the major cored doctrines. The rest are the things that we do to kind of adjust between a Presbyterian and a Methodist. And that's just those things will sort it out. This is the challenge of theology, theos theologies two words ology. The study of theos is God, so it's the study of God. There is no perfect theology on this planet because theology is a man's attempt to understand God, and none of us have complete understanding of the incomprehensible it's not possible. So then that means that even though people have very strong opinions are willing to fight and quit fellowshiping with each other over certain things, nobody has perfect theology. We're going to get to heaven and every single theologian on the planet will stand before God, and God's gonna say you are right here here and here, and you were way off on this one. In this one, right, that's what's going to happen. So I think theologians and Christians in general we need to be humble about what we don't entirely understand and open to discussing things as long as we believe Jesus is the only way salvations by grace through faith. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that was good. That was a good one, Alexander. That almost took over the whole episode. Yeah, that was good. Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, this is something that has been discussed for hundreds and thousands of years. Yeah, yeah, and Jesus set the example on these things, which, by the way, that's what we're talking about today. In John chapter thirteen, we're going to read John thirteen one through seventeen. He says, before the passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and returned to his father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Is Scariot, to betray Jesus and Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything, that he'd come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped the towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples feet, drying them with the towel he had round him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you don't understand what I'm doing, but someday you will. No. Peter protested, you will not ever wash my feet, Jesus applied. Unless I wash you, you won't belong to me. Simon Peter exclaimed, Then wash my hands head as well, Lord, not just my feet, Jesus replied, person who has bathed all over does not need to wash except for the feet to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you. For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean. After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, do you understand what I was doing. You call me teacher and Lord, and you were right, because that's what I am. And since I your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I've done to you. I tell you the truth. Slaves are not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. Yeah, that's a good pass. There you go. I well, talking about the traditions, those peripheral things. There are churches that still do foot washing. Yeah right, yeah, Yeah, anyways, go ahead. This is a side note, Jeff. But the fact where I think this is still in verse one. It says he loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. Yeah. How great is that? I love that. In terms of the person I'm thinking of, there's probably someone who stumbled across this podcast. They're listening, their their life is far from God right now, they're trying to figure things out and just the hope of knowing that Christ loves me to the end. Yeah, there's nothing that you can do that would make him stop loving you. Now, he may not like your activities or what you do, but he loves you. And I just think that gives tremendous hope that Christ loves us to the end. Yeah. I just think that's awesome. He even loved it. So it says he loved all his disciples in this statement. Yeah. After that, it says he knows who the one was that was going to betray him. Yeah, so even loved Judas. Even Judas was included. Yeah, yeah, which, which is really amazing. That's awesome. So you know, I love the life application study Bible. I'm always highlighting that one, and now they don't pay us to say that. I just think everybody needs a good study Bible because you can't always have a preacher with you, and I don't always advise searching the meaning of a thing on the internet. You'll get anything if you're not if you're not a substantial Biblical Bible student already, if you already have deep understanding, it's hard to filter what's true and what's not true on the internet. But if you have a deeply evangelical, theologically centered study Bible, you can get so much more from something that's trusted, rather than just randomly entrusting your belief to an algorithm. Right. So anyways, it says here that there's a note for this passage, and it says Jesus was the model servant, and he showed his servant attitude to his disciples. Washing guest's feet was a job for a household servant to carry out when guests arrived. And the reason was they wore sandals, and they walked so much, and you know, the exhaust from the donkeys and the goats and the and the the oxen walking down the street was a little gross. So you can imagine how dirty their feet would be just walking everywhere and open toad, sandals, all those things. And so when you'd come into a home it was a sign of honor to wash your guest's feet. But usually it was the lowest servant that had that job of washing everybody's gross feet. Right, But Jesus chooses to do this, And so Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, as the lowliest slave would do, and washed and dried his disciples feet. Even he God in the flesh, serves so willingly we his followers must also be servants willing to serve in any way that glorifies God and ask what would that kind of service mean in your home, or your workplace or your ministry. Are you willing to follow Jesus example as serving who can you serve? Today? Jesus blesses those who not only agree the humble services Christ's way, but also follow through and do it. Isn't that great? So powerful? Because that's the point. Jesus isn't saying you need to wash people's feet. Jesus is saying culturally and socially, you need to be willing to take the lowest position to serve the people that need to be served. Which is kind of counterintuitive to how society operates. Oh yeah, society operates by me first. I'm at the front of the line. I'm the boss. You know, you do what I say. No, this is very counterintuitive to how most people would think and how most people would operate. Yep, yeah yeah. So he he's down on his knees, he's washing their feet, and Peter goes, oh no, no, no, no, yeah, Jesus, you cannot because Peter's recognizing you can't be a slave to me. But I love how Peter is always the one. Yeah, he's always well he's the oldest. Yeah, so that's part of it. You just kind of step into the role when you know. But he is very impetuous. Yeah, and I think he's a little bit of I think he's very emotional, right, so he gets he gets really aggressive sometimes. Yeah, And in this one he jumps like, go Jesus, you can't wash my feet. Yeah, and Jesus says, you don't understand what I'm doing, but someday you will. Yeah. But imagine telling Jesus what he can and can't you do. That's what's just kind of funny to me. Well, Jesus, you can't do that. So there's a chance Peter was older than Jesus. It's very likely that Peter was older than Jesus, which is kind of a funny funny thing. But yeah, so he's like, oh no, well, then if you're going to wash my feet, wash my head, wash my hands, wash my whole body. Yeah, And what what Jesus is trying to say is, listen, you've already been washed, You've already been made clean spiritually. You don't need that, but you need others. You need servants to help you be completely clean, right, particularly even on a physical standpoint here, that's what he's trying to do. Peter's like, nope, I'm not gonna let you wash my He says, if I don't wash your hand or your feet, then you know you're gonna have some trouble there. So he he he then comes and says, listen, you guys call me teacher, and I get that, but listen, the servant isn't greater than his master. If I'm willing to do this, you should do that. So it's a little confusing to us when he says, since I your lord tears wash your feet, you also ought to wash each other's feet. It's it's a little confusing when he says slaves aren't greater than their master. All he's saying is, listen, if the boss is willing to step down and do this, yeah, then everybody should be willing to do this. That's what he's saying. And it's hard. Which was Jesus posture all the time, you know, even when he rode in on a donkey. You know, if I was Jesus, I would have rolled in on a stallion, you know, with you know, yeah, trumpets. But that was his posture twenty four to seven. Yeah, three sixty five, yeah, yeah, so oh yeah, go ahead. Well, the only thing I was going to say with that verse fourteen, And since you kind of rif that, I have given you an example to follow do as I have done to you. What's one practical way that the listeners could wash someone's feet? So again, we're not talking about physically going and getting a basin and washing someone's feet, but how could someone practically humble themselves, yeah, and do what Jesus is saying to do? You know, from my wife and I practically we have been hosting people at our home and fixing a meal for them and spending a lot of money on those meals or expensive meals, and saying, you know, taking half a day prepping for them, and then just everybody's sitting at the table. We can fit ten people at our dining room table. And to just say, listen, there's no agenda other than to say thank you. And it's all stakeholders. It's all people who are really helping carry the load and the ministry that I'm serving in. And you know, we have a large church with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people and it takes hundreds of leaders to be apart in order to make it go. I can't make this happen myself, and so I think I'm not always great at saying thank you because I'm always moving on to the next thing. I don't celebrate a lot. I've just I get the thing done. I know whether or not it was a success. I'm satisfied with success. I move on, and what happens I forget to say thank you. And so for me, practically, my wife and I have decided we're going to multiple times a month if possible, host you know, half a dozen people or you know, eight ten people in our home at a time, give them a good meal. And I always say I think you were you at one of them when I said, he listen, I'm never going to wash your feet. Culturally, that's not a thing. Yeah, but I am going to say thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't do this without you, And this is my way of I'm going to serve you, and I want you to know this is my way of lifting you up and me being your servant. Right, I'm going to fix you an amazing meal that maybe you wouldn't even spend that kind of money at a restaurant. And then when you're all done, we're going to clean up and we're going to do the dishes, and we're going to do all those things. And we prepared for you, and we thought for you, thought about you, and we usually have a little gift and I usually write a handwritten note to every person just to say thank you. And I think that's what Jesus is saying, is be willing to take the lower place. Another one was when I was an assistant pastor. You know, I ran the teen ministry. I ran the children's mystery has in charge of all the worship and the adult discipleship stuff, but as also the janitor and so on Fridays I was I was changing out the urinal cakes and cleaning the restrooms and emptying the garbage. That's a side of ministry most people don't see. And every time, almost every time, because I felt grumpy about it. Why don't we just have a janitor? Yeah? And then the Lord this passage. Pastor, Jeff, you're telling me that pastors just don't speak on Sunday, And that's it. No. I had a lady say that to you. She said, what do you do like during the week, I'm like, well, I have a regular job like you do. Yeah, well your job. A lot of people don't know Heritage Church. You're kind of our controller. You're the one who manages make sure the money goes where it's supposed to go. All the times we have tons of checks and balances. Nobody actually has all the control of the money, right, And so there's the people who manage the inside going in, the ones who manage it going out, and the ones who manage the accounting. So there's always multiple eyes looking at it. Because God's business is the greatest business. It's the most important business, and it deserves the greatest attention and the highest level of integrity. And you kind of help manage that. And that's why you're always going to Cabo for vacation, right. I am not going to. Those aren't related yet, No, I'm joking, but yeah, you help manage the integrity of the of the process and just fantastic. And that's one of your ways of serving the people. Right. So you're great on stage, you're great preacher, you're a great leader. You do all those things. But during the week, what you're doing is you're serving the people by making sure that we're able to keep the promises we make about the integrity that we have with regard to the resources God gave. And then that allows us because of the integrity that you drive us towards, that allows us to minimize our expenses and maximize the impact of our resources in the community. We serve thousands and thousands and thousands of people with food and hungry people, and care in every area, counseling, all those kinds of things. And you're because of you being so focused on serving in that way, giving you what you can do, that allows the whole church to have a greater ministry impact. Right, So that's what I think he means washing feet. It's not the washing the feet. It's using what you do well as a gift to others and then letting them know, I'm giving this to you as a gift to serve you because you matter and I love you. Because it started off with I love you, Yes, right, he loved his people and then he got down on his knees and washed their feet, and so it's it's a it's an overt demonstration of I love you and I want to serve you. I'm grateful for you being in my life. Whatever way you can do that, that's a that's a I have a friend who comes to me and says, hey, I love you and your family and we have a lake house and they let us come visit their lakehouse. Or I've got another friend, I love you so much and he's a farmer, or whatever. He said, I'd love to have any everybody pays to hunt on his farm. He said, I love to have you come and hunt on my farm. Right, And that's his way of saying, I want to serve you. He does a thing that he can do else can do. Not everyone's is the same, right, you know. That's his way of that. You're humbling himself and showing love. That's right. So it's not an overtly spiritual you're gonna get up and preaching an amazing message and have a great eulogy. It's it's that you're just choosing to demonstrate your love through action. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome. It's good. Well, Hey, I think we're going to wrap up there and go find somebody to love today. Show them, demonstrate, don't just say it, Demonstrate love for the people around you, and we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible guys,