Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
What a sickening picture this also is of our Lord’s disciples, fighting and bickering with each other as to which one of them would be the greatest.
James, who seems to be one of the apostles who had the greatest tendency toward legalism was the first to die a martyr’s death.
Three times James, John, and Peter were invited by Jesus to witness events no one else saw: the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead (MAR 5:37-47), the transfiguration (MAT 17:1-3), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (MAT 26:36-37).
When a Samaritan village rejected Jesus, he and John wanted to call down fire from heaven upon the place. This earned them the nickname “Boanerges,” or “sons of thunder.”
In MAR 3:17 and James, the {son} of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”);
These were the very same ones that we are told in ACT 17:6 “have upset the world”
The KJ’s translation says ACT 17:6 “These are the ones that have turned the world upside down.”
Their mother, the mother of James and John also overstepped her bounds, asking Jesus to grant her sons special positions in His kingdom.
MAT 20:20-21, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down, and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left.”
James’ zeal for Jesus resulted in his being the first of the 12 apostles to be martyred. ACT 12:1-2, Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
The basin was there, the towel was there, and everything was ready. But the correct doctrinal mental attitude was not there, no one was moved or motivated to wash the others’ feet.
1CO 4:5, Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, {but wait} until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of {men’s} hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
If anyone in that upper-room should have been thinking about the glory that would be his in the Kingdom, it was Jesus.
When John 13:1 says that Jesus knew His hour had come, He was on a divine time schedule, and He knew He was going to be with the Father.
Instead of being concerned with His glory, and in spite of their selfishness, He was totally conscious of revealing clearly His personal love to the twelve that they might be confident and secure in it.
When He was arrested, He arranged that the disciples would not be arrested.
While He was on the cross, He made sure that John would give Mary a home and care in years to come.
JOH 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
He reached out to a dying thief and saved him, LUK 23:39-43.
He also revealed His love for both the Jews and the Gentiles while on the cross when He said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (LUK 23:34).
It is amazing that in those last hours of carrying the sins of the world, in the midst of all the pain and suffering He was bearing, He was conscious of all those who needed a Savior.
At the moment when most men would have been wholly concerned with self, He selflessly humbled Himself to meet the needs of others.
True love cannot be found where it doesn’t truly exist and it cannot be hidden where it does.
The great lesson of this whole account: Only absolute humility can generate absolute love.
In 1CO 13:5, Paul said that love “does not seek its own.”
He could not have been so consumed with a passion for serving others if He had been primarily concerned with Himself.
This is why the apostle John said in 1JO 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
JOH 13:2 it was during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, {the son} of Simon, to betray Him,
Judas was constantly indulging in the light, yet living in darkness; experiencing the love of Christ, yet hating Him at the same time.
Set against the backdrop of Judas’ hatred, Jesus’ love shines even brighter.
We can really understand the magnitude of Judas’ behavior when we understand that in the heart of Judas was the blackest kind of hatred and rejection we could imagine.
1JO 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
PSA 16:2-3, I said to the Lord, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good besides Thee. As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.”
MAT 25:40 “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, {even} the least {of them,} you did it to Me.”
The words of love by which Jesus gradually drew the hearts of the other disciples to Himself only pushed Judas further and further away.
The teaching by which He uplifted the souls of the other disciples just seemed to drive a stake into the heart of Judas.
But the more men hated Jesus and desired to hurt Him, the more it seemed that He would manifest His love to them.
But all Jesus had was love–He even met the greatest injury with supreme love.
He then removed his outer robe, His belt, and very likely His inner tunic–leaving Him clothed like a slave–put a towel around His waist, and knelt to wash the feet of His disciples, one by one.
One of them could have had the joy of kneeling and washing the feet of Jesus.
Sadly, the church is full of people who are standing on their dignity when they ought to be kneeling at the feet of their brother.
The desire for prominence is death to love, death to humility, and death to service.
One who is proud and self-centered has no capacity for love or humility.
John 13 – get a good look at Jesus–clothed like a slave, kneeling, washing dirt off the feet of sinful men who are utterly indifferent to
His impending death.
To go from being God in glory (verse 3) to washing the feet of sinful, un-glorious disciples (verses 4-5) is a long step.
Jesus replied to Peter, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter” (verse 7).
At this point, Peter was still thinking that the Kingdom was coming, and Jesus was the King. How could he allow the King to wash his feet?
“Never shall You wash my feet!” to emphasize his words, Peter uses the strongest form of negation in the Greek language which means you will never no never wash my feet.”
That is typical of Peter–he goes from one extreme (“Never shall You wash my feet!”) to the other (“Not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”).
Notice that Peter’s statement would be commended by many because it’s a statement of sincerity, but he was sincerely wrong.
Like many sincere people, Peter was sincere but also ignorant and wrong.
Sincerity is a front for arrogance and is mistaken as a so-called form of sweetness.
Sincerity is no substitute for a knowledge of doctrine or for perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
Sincerity can become a distraction to the Christian life and it will make a phoney out of you every time.
LUK 11:1 And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
“When you pray address the Father”, and then He taught them to pray in a specific way, LUK 11:2.
The word “part” is the noun meros which means fortune, share, destiny, partnership, or business.
The principle that He is emphasizing is that rebound precedes the correct function of perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
He must teach the disciples to rebound from the filth of competing and comparing so that they can recover and learn doctrine.
Like many sincere people, Peter was ignorant and wrong.
JOS 24:14 “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth;
Sincerity can also be a front for arrogance and so-called sweetness; 1TI 1:3.
Sincerity is no substitute for a knowledge of doctrine or for perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
The word “part” is the noun meros which means fortune, share, destiny, partnership, or business.
Before the Lord can make the first prophecy concerning the Church-age, He must teach the disciples to rebound from the filth of competing and comparing so that they can recover and learn doctrine.
Now the point is that because Peter has no doctrine resident in his soul to associate with this, then this ritual of foot-washing is meaningless without the doctrine.
Foot washing ‑ and the doctrine is rebound, and the trouble with Peter is that he doesn’t understand rebound.
What we have is an attack upon the cross and the finished work of TLJC. (HEB 10:10-14) (JOH 19:30).
MAT 16:6, TLJC said “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
MAR 8:15, he said Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
The leaven of the Pharisees is legalism, the leaven of Herod was immoral degeneracy.
In, LUK 12:1, our Lord said “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
1CO 5:6…Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump {of dough}?
GAL 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump {of dough.}
MAR 4:24 “Take care what you listen to.” The future tense of the verb ginosko which means that Peter will learn doctrine including the rebound technique.
The middle voice of the verb ginosko means that Peter will be benefited by learning the rebound technique, benefited almost immediately, within a few days.
The reality of Peter’s future understanding of the rebound technique.
First of all, Peter is shocked, then he is ignorant, Jesus says, “What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter.”
Secondly, then Peter gets emotional, JOH 13:8 “Never shall You wash my feet!”
Then he gets carried away with the wrong application, JOH 13:9 “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
First of all, you’re shocked, Then stupidity sets in, Then emotion.
If you’re legalistic, practically everything shocks you, especially when you do not have all the facts.
As soon as you’re shocked, what do you stop doing immediately?
You stop thinking doctrinally.