Not Me!

The Towel Wearer – Part 2

Now Peter is brought into the picture. Moving around the circle of His disciples, Jesus came at last to Peter, who refused to let him wash his feet.

Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me." (John 13:8)

Humility personified?

Ah, now here we have a picture of Peter who seemingly is presenting a grand act of humility on his part. Can you just see the state of disbelief on his face when Jesus approaches him with a towel wrapped around His waist and the water basin in His hand, and he protests, "Lord, you'll never do this to me!" It sounds as though this is a humble statement, reflecting the fact that Peter is humiliated that Jesus should ever take such a low position as to wash his feet.

At first glance it does appear as though Peter's protesting arises out of his own sense of inadequacy and unworthiness before Jesus. But when you look a bit closer you can see that it is really the expression of intense personal pride.

So Peter is offended

Peter is offended by Jesus' actions, because he knew that if he were in the same place, if he were an instructor, a teacher, and a Lord, he would never consider stooping to wash someone's feet. This would be beneath him. This is a rebuke to his own self-sufficiency. He doesn't want Jesus to wash his feet. He would be quite content to wash Jesus' feet, but it is an affront to his own sense of independence that Jesus should ever do anything for him.

    

What a revelation this is of the pride of our own hearts which oftentimes cloaks itself with a guise of humility, but in which we are really insisting upon our own self-dependence, self-sufficiency.

We do not want to admit to anybody that we are in need of anything. That is what Peter is doing here. He doesn't want to admit to Jesus that he requires this cleansing. He doesn't want to acknowledge his need of being washed, and, especially, of letting Jesus do this menial act for him. It humiliates him. And so he stands as an example of the pride in our own hearts which resists the ministry of Jesus to us.

          

One of the remarkable things about the gospel is that it is always bringing us down to the lowest point so we can be able to reach the highest point!

We must stand in utter humiliation and abjectness in order for God to minister to us. All human pride must be brought low before him, before we can receive what God wants to give us from his hand. And that is where we struggle, isn't it? We don't like that. We don't like to be delivered to a place where we ourselves have nothing to offer. We want to add something. Peter is such a clear picture of this. Then when Jesus explains to him, "If I do not wash you, you can have no part with me," Peter immediately surrenders, and flops clear over to the other extreme and says to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (John 13:9)

Am I a Towel Wearer?

The Towel Wearer - Part 1

John13:2-4

“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel.

Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.”

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Jesus had always had known that His exodus from this world would not be pretty. That it would be by means of death on a cross, but He did not know when this time would come → But now He knows.

And even in that moment of realization, He still remains compassionate, forgiving and loving about His own disciples. How amazing that Jesus is not thinking of Himself even though He knows that this is the dreadful and crucial hour toward which His life has been heading.

Instead, His thoughts are still upon His own disciples. He teaches them and manifests love and compassion and concern for them unto the end. This is one of the remarkable things regarding Jesus washing the disciples' feet. He is still loving and teaching his disciples unto the end.

But let’s not overlook another major thing
that’s going on at this time with Jesus that concerns Judas.

In this dramatic act of washing His disciples' feet, Jesus also stoops to wash the feet of Judas! Jesus knew that Satan ‘had already put it in the heart of Judas Iscariot, to betray Him’ and, yet, His commitment of demonstrating the love of God and His passion for men’s souls would not let Him betray Judas by turning His back on him - but He would fight to the end for Judas’ soul – showing in reality to Judas the love of God.

Just a thought: As Hebrews 4:15 lets us know that Jesus was ‘tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin’ – then, perhaps, this last act of Jesus before He faced crucifixion was to free Himself from any unforgiveness regarding Judas.


This is our assurance: Even though Jesus was ultimately done wrong by Judas and because of that was about to be tortured and passed into a dark struggle that no man could comprehend - He did not think of Himself by retaliating or harboring unforgiveness - but He loved him to the end. And, He loves us unto the end as well. Nothing we do, or fail to do, in foolish ignorance, will stop Him from loving us unto the end.


I now must stop and ask myself this question
- Am I a 'Towel Wearer'?
Have I demonstrated the love of God to others that have wronged me in some way that there’s nothing they can do, or fail to do, in foolish ignorance that will stop me from demonstrating the love of God to them just as Jesus did with Judas?

Here are the words to part of an old song from many years ago:

♫Lord, Have I Done My Part

I wondered one day as I went along my way,
Lord, have I done my part?

It seems easy to see what others fail to be,
But, Lord, have I done my part?

GOD’S TRUTH IS MARCHING ON!

On America's Presidential Inauguration Day 2013, the whole world heard a declaration from the mouth of heaven . . .
GOD’S TRUTH IS MARCHING ON!

Emperors have tried to destroy it.

Philosophies have tried to stamp it out.

Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it.

Yet still it stands.

And there shall be that final day when every voice that has ever uttered a sound.

Every voice of Adam's race shall rise in one great and mighty chorus to proclaim the name of Jesus – Who is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life - to the Glory of God the Father!

 

Yes! GOD’S TRUTH IS still MARCHING ON!

http://youtu.be/EfFk6lpTyf4

It's Time To Fight Back

God has called us to be bold — fearless in approaching Him, in stepping out in faith, and in trusting Him to lead us.

Yet . . . Satan delights in paralyzing us when we start living in fear of making mistakes.

We have all lived in our ‘own’ confidence and have suffered the consequences – but, once we have repented and received mercy and forgiveness from God – now we can move forward and operate in the ‘fearless’ confidence of the Spirit of God living in us!

Heb. 10:35-36
“Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.”

II Timothy 1:7
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”



Scriptures to confess when dealing with Satan's attacks

Greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world. - 1 John 4:4

You have given me authority to trample over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt me. - Luke 10:19

I cried out to the Lord in my trouble, and He saved me out of my distresses. He brought me out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke my chains in pieces. - Psalms 107:13-14

If I say, "My foot slips," your mercy, Oh Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. - Psalms 94:18-19

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:31

Whose Report?

As I got up this morning, the sun was shining bright and there was NO ice or 1-2" of snow like "they said" it was going to happen on last night’s weather report ......... and I thought....... ’yep, that's the way I’ve tended to live life – expending to much of my energy on preparing for what looks like might/could/should happen and it doesn't happen.’ And, every time I say to myself, ‘when are you going to learn to not put such credence on the ‘they said’ reports’?

I was reminded of the presentation of a report according to Numbers 13-14 that was as a result of an instruction from God for the Israelites to spy on the land of Canaan, to which He had promised them.

Moses and Aaron sent men to spy out the land. They were not ordinary people, they were according to the bible, leading men, everyone a leader, they must have been leaders with experiences, perhaps highly educated, people whose report after 40 days of investigation would command respect.

At the end of forty days these notable and qualified leaders returned from spying out the land and they came to Moses and Aaron and to the entire congregation for the presentation of the report.
They informed Moses, Aaron and the people that the land flows with milk and honey, economic boom, comfort and prosperous ease. Excellent news, but there is a problem. There is another report. Reports that meant don’t get happy yet. Don’t rejoice just yet. Let us tell you the bad news.

This is the bad news, the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified, very large and well protected, besides they are descendants of Anak, a long standing enemy of the Israelites.

At this point you can imagine the chaos, the disappointment, but there is yet another report. One of the spies, Caleb, quieted the people before Moses, and said ‘let us go up at once and occupy the land, for we are able to overcome it’.

You must understand that from the leaders, there are differing and conflicting reports about the land and whether or not it was suitable for acquisition.

There were antagonistic people around that spent forty days with Caleb on this special expedition, and they said to the people, ‘we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we’. In other words, we are not up to the task, we cannot do it. Caleb and Joshua were in the minority giving a report of hope.

At this point the report was unfavorable, people were worried, and in addition to the bad report, the land also consumes its inhabitants, the people who live there are giants.

Whose report will you believe? The report that says “We are able to overcome it” or the report which concludes “We are not able because they are stronger than we?”
We all know the rest of the story and it's outcome. So, I challenge us . . .  whose report will we believe?

The report that condemns you and claims you are not a child of God and you cannot make it?

Or the report of the Lord Your God that say you are His dearly beloved child who will continue to fight for you and will assure you that what He has promised you, that will He do?

Whose report will you believe?

1 Peter 2:9 “…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of God who called you out of darkness into God’s marvelous light”.
Whose report will you believe?

1 Peter 2:10  “once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy”
Whose report will you believe?

Roman 8:37-39 “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us, for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.