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The Full Extent of Our Love

Philemon 1:1  Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker…

How do we express our love for our Lord?  Many today Love God because of what He gives, for the blessings that He brings to us.  But how many of us are willing to show the full extent of our love, no matter what the circumstances?

I bring our attention to Paul’s introduction in his letter to Philemon.  He began his letter by introducing himself as “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus”.  This was literally true, for at the time that Paul wrote this letter to Philemon, together with his letter to the Colossians, he was in prison because of who he was – a Christian, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there are a number of commentaries that will claim that the term “prisoner” in English weakly translates what the word actually means.  The Greek word used here – “desmios”, literally means “a person bound in chains”.  It makes it more demeaning, doesn’t it?  Paul wasn’t just a prisoner – he was a person that was bound with chains.  These chains were heavy, painful, and literally symbolized the hardship and lack of freedom that a prisoner has.

So Paul, literally, was “bound in chains” for Jesus Christ.  That’s the utmost that Paul was willing to undergo for his Lord.  In fact it would eventually lead to his death.  Are we willing to express, to the utmost, the same love for our Lord as Paul did?

Paul describes the love of a Christian beautifully in this verse:

Ephesians 6:24  Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

He was so filled with this love for God, and so convinced that it should be found in every Christian, that he also wrote:

1 Corinthians 16:22  If anyone does not love the Lord--a curse be on him. Come, O Lord !

He loved the Lord even to the point of disregarding his own life.

Acts 20:24  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Oh, it’s so easy to proclaim, or to sing, that we love the Lord.  But up to what extent does our love for God bring us to?  We may not have present day martyrs in our society today, but does our love for God lead us to considering our life worth nothing, or the things or other people in this life worth nothing, compared to our love for God? 

Are we willing to be bound in chains for our Lord Jesus Christ?

Called to Wash Feet

No one wants to be a servant.  And yet this was one of the last teachings that the Lord left His disciples before His death on the cross.

John 13:1  It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

In John 13 – 17 the apostle John shares with us the last 36 hours of our Lord before His death.  The last moments, beginning with what we know as the “last supper”, and ending in Gethsemane.  I would like to assume that to most people the final hours or days before their death are important.  Final things they want to do, amends they need to make, and last advice or instructions.  In this final moment of our Lord He gave His disciples one more lesson, one that He taught not just with words, but with action.

John 13:3-5  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

All the apostles were probably surprised at what Jesus did.  He was sitting in the place usually reserved for the Master, and then He stands up and takes the place of a servant.  Our Lord did everything related to a servant – He dressed the part, and did what probably none of His disciples ever thought of doing to one another – He washed the disciples’ feet.

Washing feet was the role of a servant, not the master of the house.  And yet we see here our Lord taking the form of a servant.  This wasn’t new to Him.  From the start this was the heart of our Lord.  The moment our Lord was being formed in the womb of Mary He had already taken the form of a servant.  And it would extend all the way up to the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Why did Jesus do this? 

John 13:12-14  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.
13  "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.

The lesson was simple – Now that I have washed your feet, you should wash one another’s feet.  This is what the Lord wanted them to do for each other – to serve one another, to wash one another’s feet.  This was, and is, supposed to be what described the Church that He was going to build.  And it was going to start with His own disciples, and eventually passed on to each one of us today.  Our example is our Lord Himself.

It’s not easy being a servant.  We are born crying to be served, and we grow up with that same attitude hidden in our heart.  When Christ regenerates a heart, this is one of the first things that He works out in our life – that we be servants – servants of the Most High God, and servants of one another.

Have we been washing one another’s feet – or have we been busy making sure that our own feet are clean?  The world has taught us that we deserve to be served, to be pampered, to be recipients of good.  But our Lord teaches us to dress up for service, not expecting others to serve us, but for us to stoop down and wash the dirtiest of feet!  And if others don’t appreciate it, that’s fine, for we are not doing it for praise or acknowledgment, but because we are servants.

And this is not just in action, but in heart.  When our Lord was washing His disciples feet He was not playing a part.  He was showing them what it meant to love, what it meant to serve.

John 13:15-16 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Even those of us who claim to be serving the Lord need to check if we are truly being servants to one another.  We may be preaching, leading in worship, playing instruments all for ourselves rather than for the church.  Is our heart, our burden, all for the benefit of the church, or are we just serving for ourselves, for self-satisfaction?  Do we preach or teach just because we love doing it?  Do we sing, or play an instrument because we love doing it, or are we really serving the Lord and our brethren?

When we are corrected or given constructive criticism, are we offended, or do we take their advice and improve ourselves for their sake?  We are servants of the Lord, but we are also servants of the Church.  We are to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:17  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Are we ready to wash feet and be blessed?