This morning as I am spending time with the Lord, I’m in John 13:1-7.  In this passage, I noticed five observations about Jesus that have huge implications for our lives as Christians.  Most people say that this passage is about serving like Jesus.  That’s true, but it stretches beyond that.  These verses are loaded with rich doctrine and wonderful insights into the mind of Christ.

• Jesus rested in God’s sovereignty. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper” (vv. 3-4).  Obviously, we are not sovereign, however, we can extrapolate some application questions from this: “Do I trust that God is sovereign in my life?   Do I believe that my reward and inheritance is in eternity, so that I am able to humbly serve in this life?”  We must believe that our service here on earth will bring great reward in heaven.  That only comes if we understand our humble position before Almighty God.
• Jesus was vulnerable before his disciples.  “He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist…and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (vv. 4-5).  God doesn’t take risks, but from our vantage point as humans reading this narrative, it was risky for Jesus to bend low, strip his clothes, and do a task that was reserved for the lowest person in the household.  We can ask ourselves, “Do I put myself in vulnerable situations and risk my reputation in order to be a servant?
• Rank and privilege aren’t occasions for arrogance, but are cause for greater service. “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (v. 7).  Peter didn’t understand Christ’s role as Messiah.  Even though Jesus appeared to be the lowly one in the room, there was absolutely no doubt who the leader was.  Simply ask yourself, “Do I use my leadership positions or skills to boast and dominate or to be humble and serve?”
  
• Jesus needs to sanctify us because we are still in an imperfect state.  “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.  And you are clean, but not every one of you” (v. 10).  Peter and the disciples didn’t understand this.  Jesus here speaks of justification and sanctification.  Peter didn’t need to be washed all over — he was already saved.  But there were parts of Peter’s life that needed to be cleansed.  And Jesus also points to the fact that Judas was never fully washed in the first place by saying, “Not all of you are clean” (v. 11b).  Judas didn’t fall away from God; he was never with God.  For the Christian, we must ask, “Do I ever not allow Jesus to do what he wants and needs to do in my life?  Do I ever resist his sanctifying work?”
• Jesus is first Savior and Lord before example. “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master” (vv. 15-16b).  The key is in verse 16b.  Jesus says, “You aren’t greater than me, if I am your master.”  Jesus cannot, nor will not, be our example if he is not first our master.  Following him as an example will be pointless if he doesn’t rule your heart.  The most important question we can ask ourselves in light of this passage is, “What parts of my life is Christ merely an example and not Savior and Master?”  Let Jesus rule over your life as the great King and General he is, that you might do as he did. 

May we seek to know these things with our heart, and not just our mind.  May we seek to do them out of joy and delight and not duty and religion.  May we remember that Christ is our Savior, Master, and Cleanser before he is our Example.

When our words flow out of a heart that seeks control, it simply points to a deeper truth that we do not rest in the sovereignty of God.  Instead of seeking control, we need to let God be God.  In Paul Tripp’s book, War of Words, he provides seven questions for us to think about when we consider our communication struggles.

• How does your communication reveal a frustration with people and circumstances?
• In what ways is your communication an attempt to take control?
• How do you typically respond when your plans are thwarted?
• How do you respond when God sends suffering or disappointment your way?
• Do you encourage those around you to rest in God’s sovereign care?  Do you point to evidences of his loving hand?  How?
• Do you seek to speak in a way that encourages the work God is doing in others?
• Do your words reveal that you are resting in God’s control or wrestling with it?

God loved us because he wanted to.  There was nothing, and will never be anything, good in us that would merit his love.  He decided to love us because he decided to love us.  It’s that simple.  Here’s how Deuteronomy 7:7-8 puts it:

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God is a covenant-keeper and he wanted to continue his promise.  He also wanted to continue his purpose of election.  For it says that the Lord “set his love on you and chose you.”  That add so much more weight, significance, and motivation for worship to our lives as Christians.  Paul says something similar in Romans 9:10-13:

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

God loves because he is a covenant-keeping God, and he made a promise long ago to Abraham that his descendants would be spiritually redeemed from sin, death, and hell.  God loves because he loves us.  He loves because he elected us.  God loves us because it glorifies him and gives us great joy.

So, worship God out of happiness, gladness, and delight, and let it not be from duty-bound, religious, Pharisee worship.  You have done nothing to earn God’s love.  Worship him like you haven’t earned it.

I’m not a pre-tribulation rapture guy.  In fact, I think the rapture and the second coming are the same thing.  We’ll be raptured (”caught up with”) to Jesus when he returns once and for all.  Whew, I said it.  I’m glad to get that out.  Now, I’ll duck and cover in our eschatologically-charged, dispensational American Christian culture.

I think Matthew 24 is insightful for us when we consider our Lord’s return.  But, please, let’s not go off the deep end.  You can make all the assumptions you want.  You have Christian freedom on your side.  However, you can be so excited about your rapture graphs and charts that you forget the two most important things Jesus says in this chapter: the one who endures to the end will be saved, and false christs and prophets will rise up to try and deceive the elect.

What Jesus says in this passage is that we must be ready to stand firm and cling to the crucified Savior!  If you don’t endure, you won’t be saved, he says.  People will try to deceive you and if they succeed, you aren’t really elect, Jesus boldly declares.  That’s quite the differnet angle than what you’ve probably heart on this passage.

The point of this chapter, as with all eschatological chapters in the Bible, isn’t to find more ammunition to prove that Jesus will rapture his church before a literal, seven-year tribulation.  The point is to see that Jesus is King, he reigns, and it is an everyday battle to deny false christs and submit to the true Christ.  The point is that Jesus is the center of the universe, not the day or hour of his coming.  We are waiting, yes, but there is still work to be done.

Notice what Jesus does not say.  Jesus doesn’t say, “When the false christ comes, beware, and look for my return.”  No, he says, “Every single day of your lives you will have to face false gods and every day they will try to lead you astray.  Everyday you must live like I’m going to come back and be with you.”  It’s a continually thing to watch out for according to Jesus.  It’ll be a constant temptation.  I think we’ll be immersed in a love-relationship with Jesus, instead of a love relationship with figuring out when he’ll come back, if we remember this.  False christs aren’t only people and kingdoms, either.  They are pop-culture, news, sex, money, drugs, politics, knowledge, sports, internet, and anything else that we delight in more than Christ.  These things perform great signs and wonders to try to lead you astray, don’t they?  You probably don’t have to think far back to hear someone say, “Look, he is in the wilderness!” or “Look, he is in the inner rooms” or “Look, he’s in the bar…the strip club…the department store…the sports stadium…the internet chat room.”

Don’t just look to the future and try to figure out what people the false christs are; look to the present and test yourself.  Jesus is coming back someday.  Don’t try to guess the time.  But prepare yourself, be ready, and violently put to death the false christs in your life so that you are not cut into pieces and put with the hypocrites when Jesus does return (Matt.  24:51).

If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word — prayer.  Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell.

- Charles Spurgeon