Following the Example of Christ
John 13:1-17
National
Association
July 21,
2015
I loved Roy
Thomas!
I loved his preaching,
I loved his stories, I loved his family. I had the privilege of working with
his wife, Pat and his two children, Patsy and Mark.
I loved his passion
for missions. Remember that map he used to take around the country. Brother Roy
had a map of the United States and he had put a red dot on it for each Free
Will Baptist Church in the country. He would point to those states where there
were little or no dots and challenge us to reach the unreached. What a great
ambassador he was for the cause of Christ!
I must
admit, though, that when I looked at his map my eyes were also drawn to those areas
that were solid red. Those were the portions of the country were there were so
many Free Will Baptist Churches that it was impossible to distinguish the
individual dots. In those areas he just colored in large sections.
There were a
number of those areas, but one of the biggest ones was through the Appalachian
Mountains and on either side in the foothills of the Appalachians. I grew up in
one of those solid red areas in Southern Ohio.
I could walk
out my front door when I was a teenager and look North, to the right of my
home, and see the Union Free Will Baptist Church about a quarter of a mile
away. That is where I had the privilege to serve as the youth pastor for Calvin
Evans for a while. Go about three miles beyond Union and you come to my home
church, Bloom FWB. Just beyond Bloom is the Frederick FWB Church.
Go back to
my home and head south and in two miles you will see the Porter Free Will
Baptist where Forest – Tarry Chamberlain pastored for so many years and Mark
Price does now. Not far past Porter you come to the top of a hill and turn left
to come to the Sciotodale FWB Church.
If you gave
me 10 minutes, I could probably be to one of about 15 FWB churches from my
home. Give me a half hour and that number jumps to about 40!
I lived in Free
Will Baptist country. In fact, I thought Free Will Baptists were like that all
over. I soon found out differently – especially when I pastored in
Williamsburg, Virginia where I got some mighty strange looks when people would
ask me “What is a Free Will Baptist, anyway?”
Not only did
I grow up in a Free Will Baptist church. I grew up in a Feet Washing Free Will
Baptist church. Feet Washing was just as much a part of our church as Sunrise
Service or singing out of the Church Hymnal. I thought all Christians practiced
Feet Washing!
Now, if you
thought I got funny looks in Williamsburg when I told folks I was from a Free
Will Baptist Church, you should have seen the looks when I got to the Feet
Washing part! I found out that the practice was rare among evangelical
churches. In fact, I met some people who I consider great Christians who do not
practice Feet Washing in their church – one of those being my own father-in-law
whom I hold in high regard as to his faith in Christ and his Christian
testimony.
As a young
Christian, and later, a young preacher, I felt I needed to be sure of what I
believed. I am not a skeptic, but I have examined very closely what we believe.
I wanted to make sure that my faith is firmly founded in the Scriptures and not
just in what I was taught in my home church.
So, I began
a journey – one which I would like to take you through this morning, if you
will allow me. I want to take us through three steps:
- The Basis for Feet Washing
- The Ordinance of Feet Washing
- The Practice of Feet Washing.
I.
The Biblical Historical Basis
To
understand any doctrine we must first go to Scripture. And, when we study the
Biblical passages that apply we must also understand the historical and cultural
setting.
When this is
done I believe that we can see about 4, maybe 5 levels to the basis of feet
washing.
1. The first level is Cleansing
It is difficult for us to grasp the context of feet washing
in our day and time.
As we all know, during Bible days most people traveled by
walking on dirt or sand or mud roadways. The necessity of cleaning your feet
was part of the mindset of the day. It would be one of the last things on our
mind. We might kick off our shoes or wash our hands, but not our feet.
However, it was one of foremost things on the mind of people
in those days as a matter of hygiene. And is implicit in many of the passages
in Scripture.
Now, I submit to you, however, that this is not the purpose
here in this passage. Jesus was not simply trying to get their feet clean. They
had already had supper. The washing of feet would have taken place much earlier
in the evening. Peter brings this up, but I believe that it is an attempt to
sidetrack Jesus. But Jesus reprimands Peter,
uses Peter’s statement to give a quick lesson and quickly gets back on point.
2. The next level is Hospitality
This is where we find many of the references in Scripture.
When the three men/angels/theophany came to Abraham in Genesis 18 He
said, “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest
yourselves under the tree.” He was being hospitable.
In the next chapter, Lot meets two men/angels and says, “Behold now, my
lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and
wash your feet.”
You can find similar situations in the stories of Laban, Joseph and others.
It was not only part of the mindset of the people of that day to be
compelled to wash their feet when they arrive at their destination, but it was embedded
in the culture that you should offer water for a guest to wash their feet when
they came to your house – just like I might say to you, if you came to my home
for a meal, “the bathroom is just down the hallway on the right if you need to
wash up before we eat.”
Again, this was not the primary purpose in John 13.
3.
The next level is Servanthood
Historical scholars tell us that at times a servant would be compelled to wash the feet of a visitor or their master. There is not direct indication of this happening in scripture – where a servant is involved—but the underlying assumption is clearly there.
In I Samuel 25, when the men of David went to fetch Abagail as a wife for David, she greeted them and said, “Behold, [let] thine handmaid [be] a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
This concept of servanthood is definitely at play in this passage. In fact, it is the center of the point that Jesus is making when he set about to explain to his disciples what he had done.
Notice in verse 12. Jesus said, “Know ye what I have done to you?”
Have you figured out what’s going on here guys? Do you get it?
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for [so] I am. If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
Jesus is saying, “If I as Master, have stooped to the level of servant to wash your feet. You, as servants, certainly be willing to wash each other’s feet.”
This hits home!!!
One huge problem with our society is the feeling of superiority.
I am better than others in this world!
I am better
than others in my country!
I am better
than others in my family!
I am better
than others in my church!!!!
Jesus is
pointing out that HE IS THE MASTER!!!
WE
ARE ALL BUT SERVANTS!!!!!
Dr. Picirilli
The basin and the towel
we take
As emblems of our
self-disdain
We gladly our own good
forsake,
And seek, henceforth,
our brother’s gain.
But there is yet another level.
4. Voluntary servitude or Humility
Not “forced” service -- but willing, humble service.
That was the spirit of Abagail, wasn’t it?
That was the spirit of the women of Luke 7 and Mary in John 11 who washed Jesus’ feet.
That’s the spirit of Christ here.
He is the master! But, he is willing to take to form of a servant.
Dr. Matt Pinson in his book, “The Washing of the Saints Feet” ties this very quality with the incarnation. He makes a great point. Philippians 2:7 says that Christ, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant.”
This is the essence of the command, “ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
Mary Ruth Wisehart
Emblems of thy
condescension
Willingly we take up
now
And with servant cloth
and basin
Low before our brethren
bow;
However, I firmly believe we need to go one step further.
5. Voluntary, humble service motivated by love!
If you obey a commandment motivated by fear of harm or death
You are a
forced servant – a slave
If you obey motivated by personal gain
You are in indentured
servant or an employee (hireling)
If you are motivation by love
You are a willing
servant – a bond slave – Christ like!
Even though love is not mentioned in this passage, there is no doubt Christ loved these men – and he wanted them to love each other.
In fact, just a short time later in verse 34 of this very chapter, Christ says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Jesus wants us to love each other – and that’s not just the “lovey” people, by the way.
Yes, he washed the feet of his beloved disciple, John, the one who would be at the cross the next day and take into his care the mother of Jesus.
But he also washed the feet of 9 men who would forsake him at his crucifixion.
He also washed the feet of the one who would deny him.
And, He also washed the feet of the one who would betray him!!!
Jesus was wanting these men to willingly serve each other out of a heart of love. That is the lesson here.
Jesus wants US to love each other as He has loved us.
To willingly
serve others.
Even
those who are hard to love!!!!
This is the Biblical basis for feet washing. This leads me to my second point – the ordinance.
II. The Ordinance of Washing the Saints Feet.
When you read or talk about ordinances two question seem to arise.
The first of these questions is “how many ordinances are there?”
Some might feel that there are more than three. Again, I would defer you to Dr. Pinson’s book. He covers that concern well.
And some would limit the number to two!
In preparation for this sermon, I sent out an email inviting Free Will Baptist pastors to participate in a survey regarding Feet washing. Many of you here today received that and responded. And I thank you. Brother Van Powell, of South Carolina won the new Randall House Commentary on Matthew written by my good friend, Dr. Jeff Crabtree.
I obtained the email list and proper permission from our Executive Office. They had emails for just over 760 pastors.
Of those 760 pastors there were 366 who responded – that’s a great response rate.
If you consider the total population of FWB pastors to be about 2200, having 360 respond gives my survey a margin of error of under 5 percent.
By the way, I have prepared a document which shows the results of the entire survey that is available to you at drdannybaer.blogspot.com.
The survey shows that 84 percent of Free Will Baptist churches practice feet washing. And they do so on average of 2 times per year.
75 percent of our pastors believe feet washing should be an ordinance. In the comment section there were some who indicated that they thought feet washing should be practiced – but not labeled as an ordinance. There were also those who said they believed that communion and feet washing were actually one ordinance.
What this means is the ordinance of the washing of the saints feet is alive and well in our ranks. I had
many pastors who seemed to take objection for the survey, thinking that it was part of some effort to remove feet washing as an ordinance. To you I say first of all, I had no such intension – and second of all, you can breathe easy. With 75 percent of pastors and 84 percent of churches we have a ‘super majority.”
We will limit our discussion today with the three ordinances listed in our treatise.
The second question that arises is “what is an ordinance, anyway?”
I suppose I should first mention that we believe in ordinances, not sacraments, such as the Catholics and Episcopalians. To them, a “sacrament” is a ritual or ceremony whereby God imparts grace upon the doer. You may indeed get a “blessing” from being baptized, but baptism does not impart the saving grace it symbolizes.
Defining “ordinance” is difficult, especially given that the word is not used in Scripture to describe those ceremonies that we call ordinances.
I cannot take the time to go into the nuances of that debate.
Here is what I would like to do. We as Free Will Baptists agree that there are three ordinances. And, I believe that we can agree on some basic principles of an ordinance.
First, an ordinance was “ordained” or commanded by Jesus Christ.
Secondly, an ordinance was “practiced” by Christ.
Thirdly, an ordinance was “practiced” by the early church.
We can all agree on those three statements.
I also believe that we can agree on this:
An ordinance is a ceremony that has a spiritual significance, but that points to a deeper spiritual meaning, without which, the ordinance is meaningless.
Let’s take baptism, for example.
A baptism is a wonderful service. It is always a thrill to see someone follow the Lord in what can be rightly called believer’s baptism.
I’ll never forget my own baptism – the baptism of my children! Baptismal services can be a highlight of a church experience.
However, baptism points to a much deeper spiritual truth – that the one who is being immersed has been united with Christ and has been buried with Him and has risen again with Him to “walk in the newness of life.”
Without this deeper spiritual truth, the ritual of baptism is meaningless. If you baptize a sinner, all you have is a wet sinner!
If fact, it could be argued that without the deeper spiritual reality, the ceremony is dangerous lest that baptized sinner somehow thinks he is right with God because he got dunked!
A similar argument could be made for the Lord’s Supper.
Some of the most worshipful service I have ever attended have been our time of Communion. They truly have meaning and purpose – to remember the death of our Lord and Savior.
However, consuming the bread and cup must represent the fact that we have indeed have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior – that His body was broken and His blood was shed for us!
Is it not the same for Feet Washing?
Some of the most precious times in our fellowship are during feet washing. When researching for this message I talked to my brother who reminded me of our grandfather – Papaw – as we called him. Papaw resisted participating in Feet Washing for quite some time – maybe because his feet stunk to high heaven! When he finally decided to join in he washed the feet of one of our deacons. When he was finished, my Papaw, who was 6 feet tall and an extremely quiet man in church, grabbed that deacon, who was barely over 5 feet tall, and carried him around the room! What a service!!!
However, as wonderful and humbling and special those times are, this ceremony must point to a deeper spiritual truth – to willingly and humbly serve others from a heart of love.
Jesus was not just telling these men to only set aside two times a year where they would get together and wash each other’s clean feet
That’s what we so, don’t we? One of the worst times is when you are on the way to church and you think, “Oh NO!!! We’re having feet washing tonight, and I forgot to wash my feet – and put on clean socks!!! How embarrassing!”
We believe he was indeed instituting a ceremony – an ordinance here. However, He meant much more than that! He wanted these men to wash each other’s feet on a regular basis. I can’t help but think that when Matthew visited Nathanial, that Nathaniel did not just provide water, but got down on his knees and washed Matthew’s feet!
Now, you naysayers can say – but we don’t do that anymore! It would be ludicrous to wash the feet of a guest to our house.
I would agree. However, the spiritual meaning is voluntary, humble, loving service. How long has it been since you have willingly humbled yourself before anyone and served them?
In other words, have you washed anyone’s feet lately?
If you are part of small minority of Free Will Baptist who do not see this as an ordinance, then I submit to you that John 13 is still in your Bible! The deeper spiritual truth is still here.
Have you washed anyone’s feet lately?
If you are one who of the vast majority of FWB who hold to feet washing as an ordinance, don’t forget the deeper truth. The ceremony is not an end in itself!!!!
Have you washed anyone’s feet lately?
By the way, for you who are from those churches please know this. According to my survey only about 34% of the adults who attend your churches participate in the ordinance.
I hope you can go home and preach this truth and increase that percentage.
But more than that, I hope that you can preach this truth and
your people will begin looking for ways they can wash feet in their daily walk.
You need to ask them:
Have you washed anyone’s feet lately?
III.
A Practical Example
In 1927, a 30 year old, unmarried Free Will Baptist women went to a
mission service. She had to go to another denomination because there were no
Free Will Baptist missionaries at that time.
At the end of the service she prayed that God would send workers to reach
to lost souls abroad. At that point it was almost as if the Lord said to her, “Why
don’t you go?”
Her response was immediate. “I cannot go. Who would take care of Mother?”
You see, Bessie was the youngest of 11 children. It became her lot to
take care of her aged mother, and she had done so for many years.
Also, Bessie knew that she needed training, and the idea of furthering
her education seemed impossible.
That winter two things happened: Her mother passed away, and the Southern
Ohio Bible Institute started just a few miles away in Portsmouth, Ohio. In 1932
she transferred to a Bible school run by the “Gospel Missionary Union” in Kansas
City, Missouri now called “Avant Ministries.”
In 1936, at the age of 40, Bessie Yeley stepped on a Dutch Steamship in
New York and began the long journey to Venezuela for her first missionary
appointment under Faith Baptist Mission – a contact she had made through
another Bible college where she had transferred to in Kansas City, Missouri.
She went out from her home church, Porter FWB mentioned earlier, and the Porter
and Pine Creek Quarterly Conferences.
In 1938 she came under the FWB Foreign Mission department. At that time
there were four missionaries – Miss Laura Bell Barnard in India, the Willeys in
Panama, and Bessie Yeley in Venezuela.
In 1942, now 46 years of age, Bessie joined the Willies in their new work in Cuba. It has been my privilege to visit Cuba a number of times over the past few years. Each time I go I meet someone who remembers Miss Yeley, as they called her.
In 1955, now 59 Bessie returned to the states, primarily for health reasons. In 1956 she began serving on the border of Mexico in Texas and Arizona on the border of Mexico. Following her ministry there she traveled to Miami to work with Cuban Refugees.
In 1965 she retired at the age of 69! But even then she moved to an apartment in the “Projects” in her home town of Portsmouth. She called it “just a change of work, nothing more.” She spent the remainder of her years ministering to children and the elderly until she died in 1969 at the age of 73.
For 15 years of her teen and adult life, Bessie washed the feet of her Mother and the people of Porter Church where she taught Sunday School, kept the books, played the pump organ and carried out the ashes from the old stove in the middle of the sanctuary.
For 6 years she washed the feet of the Venezuelans.
For 13 years she washed the feet of the Cubans.
For 9 years she washed the feet of Mexicans and Cuban refugees.
For the last 5 years of her life she washed the feet of the poor and needy in her home town – until one day in January she died on a bus, alone.
Bessie Yeley gave her life in voluntary, humble loving service. She spent her life washing feet.
I have a copy of a number of documents concerning Bessie and
copies of a number of letters she wrote – especially during that first year.
(Pick up the letter)
This is a letter she penned on the Dutch steamship that she
took from New York to Caracas, Venezuela. It is dated July 5th and
written on the ship’s letterhead.
In the letter she describes life on the boat – it was far from the cruise liners of our day!
On the last page, near the bottom she wrote these words, “So long and don’t worry about me a minute for I am getting along just fine and am happy as can be.”
Have you washed anyone’s feet lately?
