“Saved People, Serve People!”

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” – Jesus (John 13:12-17)

Last night at our weekly Sunday evening Bible Study we looked at the whole issue of servanthood, servant-heartedness, serving one another.

The title for the evening was the same as the one for this Blog post.

Philippians 2:5-11 was the main text we referred to in looking at how God calls believers to serve not only one another, but the world around us.

As always we look to Jesus, the author and completer of our faith. Jesus who we follow and who, by the power of His Spirit at work in our lives, we are becoming more and more like as He transforms us into His image (see Hebrews 12 & 2 Corinthians 3).

This humility of Jesus that we see in Philippians, is also on full display in the act of washing His disciples feet. Walking on the roads in 1st Century Palestine was often a messy and dirty affair.  Your sandals were open to the elements. Your feet could get covered in dust and dirt and even animal droppings. Pooh indeed!

Maybe you cut yourself and the blood mingled in with all of that dust & pooh. There might even be blisters.

Pretty yucky.

Yet it is these feet that have been dirtied by walking through the world that our Lord and Saviour washes.

He is willing to kneel down and get his hands dirty to clean the feet of those He loves.

The Creator of the Universe.

The great ‘I am’ humbles Himself to serve those who have given up everything to follow Him, even one who will deny Him and one who will betray Him. Jesus’ love is unconditional and extravagant.

The hands that formed the first man out of dirt are now washing the dirt away and cleaning the feet that He created.

Our God wants to be involved in our lives.

He wants to clean us up and make our lives beautiful.

He also calls those of us who have had our feet washed by Him, to go and serve those around us in the same way. To humble ourselves and get involved in the dirt and dust and mess of life and bring His cleansing and life.

Saved people, serve people.

Let’s go out there and serve others and in doing so, serve Jesus.

PS: The next Study in our ‘We Believe‘ series will be ‘Everyone is a Worship Leader‘. If you are aged between 11 and 18 years old, or know someone who is, perhaps you or they want to come check it out on Sunday 2nd October @ ‘Redefine’, Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.