“Basic Christianity, Part 55” by Romans
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We are continuing in our Series, “Basic Christianity.” Tonight, we are continuing in the review and examination of our Christian walk, as a facet of Basic Christianity. We are going to continue our acrostic review of the phrase, “By Growing in Grace,” in regard to our following in the steps of Christ. We have individually reviewed and examined all of the letters in that phrase. Last week was Part Two for the letter “E” in the word, “Grace.”
So, from Torrey's Bible Dictionary's, from their article: “The Example of Christ.” we covered the Examples Jesus left for us to follow: Holiness, Love and Humility, and Obedience unto death, Meekness, Self-Denial, Taking Up Our Own Cross, and Bearing One Another's Burdens. Tonight, we'll continue to review and examine the many Examples Jesus left for us, as listed in Torrey's List, the verses related to them, and I will share some Commentaries on those verses.
Tonight let's look Jesus' Example of Ministering to Others. There are several verses that reveal this Example, and we will begin with Mathew 20:25-28 to see Jesus' words in their full context: “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Of this, the Sermon Bible says, “I. These words have something to tell us of the nature of true greatness. Though Christ does not ignore intellects, or even riches, He yet regards these things, and all things like these, as but instruments; and he is, in the gospel sense of the word, the greatest who uses all such gifts or possessions in the service of mankind.
If this view of the case be correct, one or two inferences of importance follow from it. (1) It is evident that he who wins this greatness does not win it at the expense of others. (2) It follows, further, that we may win this greatness anywhere. (3) It follows, thirdly, that this greatness is satisfying to its possessor.
II. The text has something to say to us, in the next place, about the model of true greatness. "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." In one point of view the greatness of God is that of service. All things depend on Him. He holds the planets in their orbits. He rules the changing year. The highest of all is the servant of all.
But striking as the nobleness and the divinity of service appear, when we look thus at the universal ministry of God, we have a more impressive illustration of the same thing in the mission and work of the Lord Jesus. In creation and providence God lays nothing aside. But in redemption it was different.
To deliver man from the guilt and power of sin it was needed that the Son of God should become a man, and, after a life of obedience, should submit to a death of shame; and there was sacrifice. When that was done Jehovah rendered the highest service to humanity and gave a pattern of the loftiest greatness.
III. This text has something to say to us about the motive to true greatness. We are to seek it for the sake of Him who gave Himself for us. Jesus does not say in so many words, "Serve one another, because I have served you;" but still the reference which He makes to His death, as an example, brings before every Christian’s mind the magnitude of the obligation under which Christ has laid him.” W. M.
Taylor, Contrary Winds and Other Sermons, p. 215.
Here is a text that speaks home at once and with ease. It runs on our levels; it speaks in a language understood of all. I. Everyone knows the arrogance and the insolence of the kings of the Gentiles who exercise lordship over their fellows.
And it is in delightful and enticing contrast to this that we turn to greet, with heart and soul, the sweet coming of Him, the human-hearted, the tender Master of all loving-kindness, and all patience, and all goodness, and all long-suffering—the Son of Man. The Son of Man came to minister. He had seen an opportunity of giving, of helping, and so He came.
II. Of giving what? Himself. His service was to be utterly unstinted. He would go the whole length with it. He saw that we should demand from Him all that He had; that we should use up His very life; that we should never let Him stop, or stay, or rest, while we saw a chance of draining His succouring stores.
And yet He came; even His life He would lay down for our profit. He came as the good Giver, as the Shepherd who giveth His life for the sheep.
III. And it is this, His character, which draws us under the sway of His gracious lordship. This is the allurement of Christ, by which His sheep are drawn after His feet; how can they resist the call of One who serves them so loyally? Every sound of His voice has in it the ring of that true-hearted devotion which would lay down life itself to save them from harm.
And yet it is just this winning charm of which we miss often the true force. For do we not associate it entirely with what we call the humanity of the Lord? But that winning grace has in it the potency of God Himself. It is the manifestation of the Word, the revelation of what God is in Himself.
If Jesus, the Man, is tender and meek, then God, the Word, is meek and tender; God, the Word, is sympathetic, and gentle, and humble, and forgiving, and loyal, and loving, and true. It is God, the Word, who cannot restrain Himself for love of us, and comes with overwhelming compassion to seek and save the lost; God, the Eternal Word, who longs to win the heart of publican and sinner.
The Son of Man is the Son of God; and, therefore, we know and thank God for it, that it is the blessed nature of the Son Himself, in His eternal substance, which found its true and congenial delight in coming, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. 227.
References: Mat_20:28.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 181; J. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 317; W. G. Blaikie, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, p. 97; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 42, Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xix., p. 210; A. Scott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 339;
Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 27; W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 441.”
To this Matthew Henry adds, “They must not be like the princes of the Gentiles. Christ's disciples must not be like Gentiles, no not like princes of the Gentiles. Principality doth no more become ministers than Gentilism doth Christians.
Observe, [1.] What is the way of the princes of the Gentiles; to exercise dominion and authority over their subjects, and (if they can but win the upper hand with a strong hand) over one another too. That which bears them up in it is, that they are great, and great men think they may do any thing.
Dominion and authority are the great things which the princes of the Gentiles pursue, and pride themselves in; they would bear sway, would carry all before them, have every body truckle to them, and every sheaf bow to theirs. They would have it cried before them, Bow the knee; like Nebuchadnezzar, who slew, and kept alive, at pleasure.
[2.] What is the will of Christ concerning his apostles and ministers, in this matter. First, “It shall not be so among you. The constitution of the spiritual kingdom is quite different from this. You are to teach the subjects of this kingdom, to instruct and beseech them, to counsel and comfort them, to take pains with them, and suffer with them, not to exercise dominion or authority over them; you are not to lord it over God's heritage (as we see in 1 Peter 5:3), but to labour in it.”
This forbids not only tyranny, and abuse of power, but the claim or use of any such secular authority as the princes of the Gentiles lawfully exercise. So hard is it for vain men, even good men, to have such authority, and not to be puffed up with it, and do more hurt than good with it, that our Lord Jesus saw fit wholly to banish it out of his church.
Paul himself disowns dominion over the faith of any, (in 2 Corinthians 1:24). The pomp and grandeur of the princes of the Gentiles ill become Christ's disciples. Now, if there were no such power and honour intended to be in the church, it was nonsense for them to be striving who should have it. They knew not what they asked.
Secondly, How then shall it be among the disciples of Christ? Something of greatness among them Christ himself had intimated, and here he explains it; “He that will be great among you, that will be chief, that would really be so, and would be found to be so at last, let him be your minister, your servant,” (in Matthew 20:26-27).
Here observe, 1. That it is the duty of Christ's disciples to serve one another, for mutual edification. This includes both humility and usefulness. The followers of Christ must be ready to stoop to the meanest offices of love for the good one of another, must submit one to another (as we see in 1 Peter 5: and Ephesians 5:21), and edify one another (Romans 14:19), please one another for good, (Romans 15:2). The great apostle made himself every one's servant; (see 1 Corinthians 9:19).
2. It is the dignity of Christ's disciples faithfully to discharge this duty. The way to be great and chief is to be humble and serviceable. Those are to be best accounted of, and most respected, in the church, and will be so by all that understand things aright;
not those that are dignified with high and mighty names, like the names of the great ones of the earth, that appear in pomp, and assume to themselves a power proportionable, but those that are most humble and self-denying, and lay out themselves most to do good, though to the diminishing of themselves.
They must be like the Master himself; and it is very fit that they should, that, while they were in the world, they should be as he was when he was in the world; for to both the present state is a state of humiliation, the crown and glory were reserved for both in the future state.
[1.] Never was there such an example of humility and condescension as there was in the life of Christ, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. When the Son of God came into the world, his Ambassador to the children of men, one would think he should have been ministered to, should have appeared in an equipage agreeable to his person and character;
but he did not so; he made no figure, had no pompous train of state-servants to attend him, nor was he clad in robes of honour, for he took upon him the form of a servant. He was indeed ministered to as a poor man, which was a part of his humiliation; there were those that ministered to him of their substance (see Luke 8:2-3); but he was never ministered to as a great man; he never took state upon him, was not waited on at table; he once washed his disciples' feet, but we never read that they washed his feet.
He came to minister help to all that were in distress; he made himself a servant to the sick and diseased; was as ready to their requests as ever any servant was at the beck of his master, and took as much pains to serve them; he attended continually to this very thing, and denied himself both food and rest to attend to it.
Ministers should be more forward than others to serve and suffer for the good of souls, as blessed Paul was, (in Acts 20:24) and Philippians 2:17. The nearer we are all concerned in, and the more we are advantaged by, the humility and humiliation of Christ, the more ready and careful we should be to imitate it.”
Moving on, some of you may remember these next two verses being applied in a previous Installment early in this Series. I thought it worthy of repeating, along with Albert Barnes' Commentary that I used when I first cited it: After eating the Last Supper in the Upper Room, Jesus said to His disciples. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).
Of this Albert Barnes writes, “Ye also ought to wash ... - Some have understood this literally as instituting a religious rite which we ought to observe; but this was evidently not the design; because: 1. There is no evidence that Jesus intended it as a religious observance, like the Lord’s Supper or the ordinance of baptism;
2. It was not observed by the apostles or the primitive Christians as a religious rite;
3. It was a rite of hospitality among the Jews, a common, well-known thing, and performed by servants.
4.It is the manifest design of Jesus here to inculcate a lesson of humility; to teach them by his example that they ought to condescend to the most humble offices for the benefit of others.
They ought not to be proud, and vain, and unwilling to occupy a low place, but to regard themselves as the servants of each other, and as willing to befriend each other in every way. And especially as they were to be founders of the church, and to be greatly honored, he took this occasion of warning them against the dangers of ambition, and of teaching them, by an example that they could not forget, the duty of humility.”
After commenting on the Lord's Supper which had just been instituted, Robert Hawker writes, “But I would more particularly beg the Reader’s notice to what is related in this Chapter, of our Lord’s washing his disciples’ feet. And I desire his attention the rather, because John is the only one of the four Evangelists, whom the Holy Ghost was pleased to appoint, to make this record.
The circumstances indeed in it are so very singular, and the humbleness of our Lord in the act so striking: a service which was never performed by any but the very lowest of the servants in a family; that I confess I am inclined to think, there was somewhat of no small importance veiled under it. I am far from supposing, that I can throw any new light upon the subject: nevertheless, in a work of this kind, it would be wrong to pass it by unnoticed. May God the Holy Ghost be our Teacher!
And here let us first observe how the subject is introduced. Jesus, knowing that all things were given into his hands. So that in the very moment when he knew himself, as God-Man-Mediator, to be the Lord, Proprietor, and Governor of heaven and earth;
Jesus did that which the lowest of the sons of men, and such as are slaves, only perform. Let the impression which such a view of Christ’s unbounded condescension ought to have upon the mind, be first considered by us; and then let us go on to another observation, which ariseth out of what the Evangelist hath said.
Secondly. It is added, that Jesus knew he was come from God, and went to God. With these thoughts before him, the Lord performs an act of service upon each of his disciples present; as if under the conviction, that now only could such an outward demonstration of his regard for them be given, because he was about to return to his Father, and for a while, they would see him no more.
Thirdly. The act itself of washing his disciples’ feet, hath somewhat very striking in it. The manner in which the Lord set about it. The deliberate and personal way in which he did it to all: and the confinement of the thing itself to their feet only: these are certainly special, and particular characters, in which there is much signification.
Some have supposed, that in this act of humiliation, of the Lord Jesus laying aside his garments, and putting on the towel of the menial servant; may be viewed, a beautiful representation of the Son of God laying aside his glory which he had with the Father before all worlds, and taking upon him the form of a servant, when he came to wash his people from their sins in his blood.
And some have thought, that the washing of his disciples’ feet, and not their hands, was in reference to the Apostles as preachers of the Gospel; and that in this sense, the ceremony had an allusion to that scripture of the Prophet, when he saith: how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings (as found in Isaiah 52:7).
But I confess, that in my apprehension, whatever the act itself of washing the feet implied, (for I do not presume to decide,) it was not intended by our Lord to be limited to his Apostles, as preachers of the word; but the whole Church, of which they were then the representatives, were included in it. For the Lord’s answer to Peter, who modestly declined this service of Christ’s, plainly proved, that it was of general importance to the whole Church: If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Fourthly. Another remarkable circumstance in this transaction, and which is highly in proof of its importance, is, that the Lord insisted upon it, as hath been just observed in answer to Peter’s objection; while we are expressly told by the same Evangelist, that in respect to baptism, Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.
So that the Lord laid no stress upon his own baptizing of his disciples, yea, that he baptized none, and yet here the Lord layeth the greatest importance upon the washing himself his disciples feet, declaring that if he washed them not, they had no part with him.
And which words of Christ, and probably spoken in a firm and decided manner, carried such conviction with them to the heart of Peter, that he cried out in great earnestness of desire for the Lord to do it; Lord! (saith he) not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head.
And, lastly, to mention no more. What can be more marvellous and astonishing, than to observe in this transaction, that Judas, as is most evidently the case, partook in this washing by Christ, in common with the other Apostles. This is as striking a particularity as either of the former.
I have said that this was most evidently the case, for had Judas being passed over, and not washed, no sooner had Jesus finished the service, and had sat down again, when we are told, that he immediately declared that one of them should betray him.
Now had Judas not been washed with the rest, it would have been known by this omission which it was that would do this deed. Whereas we find the declaration of Jesus threw the whole into a consternation, and called forth the anxious question, one by one, Lord! is it I?
Let no child of God, however, be hurt, that Judas partook in this common act of washing the feet. For whatever grand points were intended from it by our Lord, the thing itself, like ordinances of all kinds, had no saving efficacy in it. The ministration of it most probably had some very blessed design in view, in reference to the Lord’s own people.
But to others it had none, but like the rain or dew of heaven, which falls upon the rocks and sands, and produceth nothing. There could be no more efficacy in the Lord’s washing Judas’s feet, than in his administering to him the Lord’s Supper; and all the other ordinances he had in common with the Apostles.
And I take occasion from hence (and with such an awful character in view as Judas, who partook of those means of grace, but to his greater condemnation,) to remark, that it should seem our dear Lord intended from it to teach his people how to draw improvements to their comfort, rather than at any time to be discouraged at the unavoidable minglings with the ungodly, whether in ordinances, or elsewhere in the present world.
What a most endearing portrait hath God the Holy Ghost given to the Church, by the pencil of the Evangelist, of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ? Can the imagination conceive anything equally lovely, as in thus beholding the Son of God in our nature, washing the feet of poor fishermen?
And what tends to give yet more the highest coloring of grace and mercy to the picture, it is drawn at that moment of all others, when Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands! Reader! ponder it well.
What a lesson is here taught to mortify the pride of human nature! While the great ones of the earth carry themselves so proudly, and will hardly condescend to behold the poor of the people, the King of heaven stoops to the lowest humiliation, and washeth his disciples’ feet.
Now I pray the Reader never to lose sight of this unequalled condescension of Christ. Shall you, or shall I, or shall any poor sinner, in the view of such clemency, evermore draw conclusions, as if it was beneath the dignity of the Son of God to regard his people, when we behold such a palpable proof of that regard, in an act so humbling? Did Jesus wash their feet, and will he not wash my soul?
Jesus, by this act of washing his disciples’ feet before his departure, intended to convince them, that the tendencies of his love to them would be the same after that he was gone. He knew (the Evangelist saith,) that he was come from God, and went to God; and under these impressions, he taketh the towel, and the water, and immediately begins to wash his disciples’ feet.
So that with his mind full of the glory to which he was then going, returning to his Father, and to all his redeemed gone before, yet he doth this to leave a palpable testimony behind him, that neither time nor place could alter his regard for them. But his last act upon earth, when in familiarity he was sitting down with them, should not be more expressive of affection than he would carry with him in all his remembrance of them in heaven.”
This Example of Jesus, and so many more that we will cover, God Willing, in future Installments of the Basic Christianity Series, are Examples of self-denial, humility and service that Jesus set for all of us, and each of us to follow. In His own words, Jesus spoke of this, His final interaction with His disciples, with these words:
“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:15-17).
This concludes Evening's Discussion, “Basic Christianity, Part 55.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on October 20th, 2021
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