It's not too Small a Thing

 

Jesus answered and said to him [Peter], “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” (John 13:7-8 [NASB])

            When we read John 13:1-17, we realize Jesus, God’s Son, did not consider himself too exalted to do the lowest of tasks-washing dirty feet. He took off his outer tunic and wore just what a servant would and wrapped a towel around his waist as a servant would. Next, he knelt beside Peter to put his foot in the basin and wash and dry it. Peter and the other disciples recognized this action for what it was, a servant’s duty. To him, Jesus was Teacher and Lord (vs 13). Jesus wanted His disciples to see He was more than what they thought they knew about Him. Yes, He is God’s Son and is divine. Jesus also humbled Himself to come down to earth from His throne in heaven, to be incarnate. Paul spoke of this humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-7. Jesus made sure the disciples realized His work comprised more than just being recognized as a Teacher and the Lord, the Son of God. His life was to be a humble servant to the Father and humanity so each person would come to know Him as his or her Savior.

            Isaiah in Isaiah 49:1-13 recognized the different facets of the Messiah. Through Isaiah, the Messiah prophesied of His coming humility by birth as a human (vs. 1). He would come to speak the words of God with protection from the shadow of His hand (vs. 2). Jesus would come to toil as if in vain to bring Israel back to God (vs. 4-5). God deemed His Son’s work too important for just the Israelites. The Messiah said He would be a light to all nations. He would come to speak for God and toil for His purposes so all may see the Light of God and come to know Him as their Redeemer (vs 6-7a). Though the Messiah said He people would despise and abhor Him, He would serve people. Kings would rise to their feet and princes would bow to Him because the LORD God chose Him (vs. 7). He said He would release the captive, bring light to those in darkness, feed the hungry, and give drink for the thirsty (vs. 9-10). Jesus the Messiah would make the roads straight and people would come from near and far to be with Him (vs. 11-12).

            Jesus prophesied through Isaiah that He would come to earth for the Israelites to restore them to God. He said He would come for people everywhere, too. Jesus’ ministry on earth was almost exclusively to Israelites. Yet, we know He came for each person who lived during and after His life on earth. Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19 [NASB]). In Acts 1:8, Luke wrote what Jesus told them in the upper room. He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

John, in John 13:1-17, told of Jesus preparing His disciples for ministry beyond what they understood. He prepared them to be like Him. Isaiah 49:1-13 foretold the Messiah’s work on earth-speaking to and toiling as a servant for the people of Israel and other nations to receive salvation. Jesus came to serve the Father. That required being a servant for people, too. Jesus showed this to His disciples while He walked with them. He healed, taught, fed, proclaimed, and raised the dead. For the disciples, He did the miraculous. How else could a poor carpenter’s son have taught with authority, though uneducated? How could he have done miracles of healing, feeding, and raising people from the dead? With John 13, Jesus showed His disciples a deeper understanding of His miraculousness. He came to serve, to cleanse people-from dirt and from sins. Jesus served in whatever way was necessary so each person would come to know Him, believe in Him, and receive salvation from sin and death. Jesus modeled this to His disciples. He instilled righteous leadership with righteous servanthood. Jesus instilled servanthood with righteousness so they could be His leaders, too. Only through the righteousness of Christ imparted in each believer through the Holy Spirit can a person fulfill God’s purposes as God foretold in Isaiah 49, Luke shared in Acts 1, and Jesus lived as relayed by Paul in Philippians 2. A servant cannot be greater than the Master and the one who is sent cannot be greater than the One who sent him. Yet, a servant and a leader can live the life of a Christian by Jesus’ Spirit living within them upon faith in Him for salvation.

            It took Jesus, incarnated and fully divine, to transform the actions of people to always be actions of righteous service. Without His indwelling a person, righteous serving cannot happen. It took divine Jesus to redeem serving and leading so they would be useful for God’s purposes. It was too small a thing for Jesus to come just to save Israel (Isaiah 49:6). Just as it was too small a thing for Him to come to redeem only one aspect of life. Jesus came to redeem each person wholly, including each action. He came to redeem every action, bringing it back into alignment with God’s purpose. God’s purpose is that we glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. His purpose is that we live in an eternal, loving, and righteous relationship with Him. It is not too small a thing for us to live righteously and tell other people about Jesus. It has everlasting consequences.

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11 [NASB])

Is there something you think is beneath you?

If you think that, then you have not had your feet washed by Jesus.

Peace, I Give

Things which eye has not seen

And ear has not heard,
            And which have not entered the heart of man,
             ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit;

for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?

Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 

Now we (Christians) have received,

not the spirit of the world,

but the Spirit who is from God,

so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 

which things we also speak,

not in words taught by human wisdom,

but in those taught by the Spirit,

combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,

for they are foolishness to him;

and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 

But he who is spiritual appraises all things,

yet he himself is appraised by no one. 

For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he will instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

                                                            1 Corinthians 2:9-16 [NASB]

Why do Christians have the mind of Christ?

When we became followers of Jesus, His Holy Spirit came to live in us. In John 14:18-30, Jesus said He did not leave His disciples as orphans. Even though they (and we) will not see Him on earth again until His return, He will live in us through His Spirit and we will live eternally with Him. We have the mind of Christ because Jesus loves us and we love Him, just as He and the Father love and abide with each other. For this reason, followers of Jesus can always have peace, His peace, not the worlds, since the Spirit lives in them. Christians do not have to fear. Jesus is always with us through His Spirit and so we can have His perfect peace, a heart peace which nothing can alter or destroy.

How does this mind of Christ, which Jesus gave, help us?

In Matthew 10:24-25, Jesus reminded His disciples a student is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. If a person would deign to malign a leader, that person would have no problem maligning the student or servant either. We are no greater and should expect nothing less than what our Master and Teacher experienced. Yet, we need not fear what may happen. Why? We don’t need to fear because we have the mind of Christ, the Holy Spirit, within us and can live with true peace recognizing that though our bodies and spirits may be tormented in one or many ways, nothing can take our salvation and hope from us. We each are more valuable than sparrows. So, be brave and courageous, and continue to confess, teach, and preach about Jesus to the world. (Matthew 10:26-32)

Peace Jesus gives to each of us who believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

Peace we can have as we live each day of our lives whether in joy or trial.

Peace we must choose to hold on to when storms batter and fray.

Peace is what Jesus gives.

His love gives peace.

When the din of the world assaults our ears, we can go to our quiet place within ourselves and hear Jesus’ voice anew,

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27 [NASB])

We have the mind of Christ because Jesus loves us, and we love Him.

Perspectives and Portents

One day the sun rises, the birds sing, the air is sweet

And we breathe a sigh of relief.

Another day the sun rises, the crows caw,

And we wonder what will go wrong.

Is it the change of days that makes things appear good or bad?

Or is it a change in perspective that brings about this perception?

The real question should be,

Is God the Master of the day in which the birds sing

And the day in which the crows caw?

Without delay, the resounding answer is, “Yes!”

But, do we live our lives as if we believe that answer?

Do we allow our fears of what may come or what is happening determine our emotions?

Do we allow our fears of what may come determine how we will step into our situations?

Remember, fear is not from God. God casts out all fear.

John said this in 1 John 4:18 when he said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

Is it not the same God who creates both days, one when the birds sing sweetly and the other when crows caw?

Is not the cawing of crows just another bird’s song, maybe not as beautiful to some ears, maybe yours, but still a bird’s song?

Then what causes us to fear and our emotions to change?

It is not God because God made both these days, and these birds and their songs.

The fear comes because of our skewed perceptions. One bird’s song is beautiful and the other is not. Thus, a legend passed down leads us to hesitate in our day, fearing and wondering what bad may befall us.

Fear comes because our perception, our focus, does not remain on the Master, but instead on the matter.

If our eyes, inner and outer, remain on the Master, we will see the day as one He made and then rejoice and be glad in it knowing He is the Maker of it with His creative love. Since He is the Maker, He is the ruler and we have nothing about which to be afraid in it.

It does not matter what occurs during our day, the Master is in charge of the day.

Whether a light breeze whisks by or a storm rages, God is the Master of the day. He is in control of it and He loves us.

God is Master of the matter, created things. The matter is not master of God.

Does that mean He will make the storm cease raging?

Sometimes. And that is a great testimony of God’s power.

Still, other times the storm does not cease, and the winds keep raging.

Does that mean He is not merciful or is not strong enough to calm the storm?

Never. God is still the Master of the storm. This time, He wants to walk with us through the storm.

There is a reason He doesn’t calm the storm as well as why He does.

Both times can bring us closer to God and grow us in our walk with Him. Because He loves us.

How we confront the day determines our growth from it.

The day doesn’t determine our growth, but instead our faith in God does.

One day, Jesus put the disciples in a boat and told them to go ahead of Him to the other side. He went to pray. While the boat was a long way from the shore, the storms raged on the sea. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went to the disciples by walking on the water. By this time, the disciples trembled with fear since they had been in the storm on the sea. They saw Jesus and thought He was a ghost and so were more afraid. Jesus identified Himself and told them to be courageous and not fear. Peter told Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” Peter stepped onto the water and began to walk while keeping his eyes on Jesus. When he looked away and saw the raging sea, he became afraid and began to sink. Peter said, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:22-33)

Isn’t this like so many of us? We have faith until the storms of life come against us. Then we remember Jesus and His power and love for us. This causes us to have great faith, so we can step out and follow Him despite the storms. Yet many of us, most of us initially, look at the storm instead of the Savior. We consider how great the storm is and forget how great the Master is, the One who created the matter.

Just as Jesus did for the disciples, He does for us. He reaches out His hand, catches us, chastises our little faith lovingly to teach us, and gets into our boat with us calming the sea as He does.

God wants our love for Him and faith in Him to grow. He allows circumstances to happen so we will trust Him more and grow in our relationship with Him-so that our faith will grow.

What is the difference between when Jesus told Peter, “Come” and when He climbed into the boat?

The difference is Jesus first took Peter out of his comfort zone to grow him. He walked with Peter through the storm.

The second is Jesus calmed the storm. He took Peter and the other disciples out of the storm by bringing stillness and calm back to their surroundings.

God can answer prayer for help during storms in two ways: remove the storms or walk with you in the storms.

God didn’t change. His love for you is the same.

What changes is your perspective. The days of storms are like the days you wake up and the crows caw. God created them and is Master of them, but to you, it portends a bad day.

The days of calm winds and no storms are like the days you wake to birds singing. Once again, God created them and is Master of them, but to you, no challenges seem to be on the horizon.

What changed with each? Did God change? No. God is still the Master and in charge of everything.

What changed is your perspective. We see the beautiful day and know our God can Master that. The circumstance does not define God, but God defines the circumstance. God’s got this, we think.

On the other hand, when we see the stormy day, we begin to question God’s might and mastery. The circumstance, in our minds, defines God. That should never be!

God defines all circumstances and is Master of them all. Nothing defines Him.

God is the definer-the Creator-of all things.

What changed? Our perspective.

We each must grow in our faith. God does not always calm the storms.

Because of His love for us, He wants us to grow stronger in our faith.

Because of His love, He walks with us in the storms.

Did you hear that? God walks WITH us in the storms. That is perfect love. And remember, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

The next time you wake up to a day and feel like it will be a bad day, or you are going through a stormy time in your life, remember…

God loves you. His love is perfect. His love casts out fear.

God walks with you through your storm!  He loves you!

Lord, sometimes all I see is the storm. I cannot see You. Help me see You and trust You. Walk with me through the storm and grow me to be more like You. Make me faithful and strong in You and Your love.