Flock Directives

to the book of 1 Peter. We find ourselves once again
in chapter 5, and not in an entirely different
context, although Peter’s focus changes here. As you have seen
in the weeks past, the focus has been on the leadership of
the church. What Peter points out here as the elders We’ll pick up that context in
a moment. But essentially, Peter’s focus
was twofold. He not only had the elders in
view, but then he turns his attention as well to the flock of God,
those cared for by the elders and shepherded by the elders.
And what was their response to be? If you would, let’s go back
and let’s pick up the passage in its entirety, all the way
back to verse 1 of chapter 5, so that you can get the flow.
If you want, the passage is there in your bulletin with places
for notes. But let’s go back to verse 1
of chapter 5 and we’ll re-establish the context there, where Peter
wrote, Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow
elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also
of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among
you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily,
according to the will of God. and not for sordid gain, but
with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your
charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men likewise be subject
to your elders and all of you clothe yourselves with humility
toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the
proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He
cares for you.” The transition, for some, has
proven to be rather difficult. There are those that see this
passage and as soon as they see the word younger, they jump back
to those first four verses and undo everything that we established
over the last four weeks. They say because of the word
younger there, that Paul merely is talking about age groups.
And as axiomatic in the church, it is to be that young people
are to revere and honor and respect those of age. And so, no matter
what point you are, everyone who is older, you are to reverence
or respect and everyone beneath you, you can rightly expect that
of them. Well, as I said, that word younger
has, over the course of history, prompted some to undermined the
doctrine of the eldership, which was discussed in verses 1-4,
but some believe because of that that Peter is merely referring
to age, to those who are older and also to those who are younger
here in verse 5. But I think we made well the
case for the office of the eldership. We took it from the entirety
of Scripture, not just this verse. 1 Peter 5, 1-4 is no doubt a key
passage in that consideration of establishing a doctrine of
church leadership, which we referred to as elders. But it’s not the
only passage. Verse 5, here as you look at
it, some have suggested because of this difficulty of older and
younger, and what does elder really mean in light of the fact
that Peter uses the word younger here. Some have suggested that Peter
is talking about the office of eldership. He truly is talking
about the office of eldership in verses 1-4. But suddenly in
verse 5, he switches gears and now he’s merely talking about
older saints. that early on he was talking
about leadership, verses 1-4, and now suddenly he just talks
about a rule of propriety where younger members should be subject
to their senior members. Which is interesting. We have
served in some churches and some churches erroneously function
in that capacity. But as I’ve said before, error,
even if taught by an old and seemingly wise saint, is still
error. It isn’t age merely that makes
one respectable and honorable. Let’s go back to the beginning
of this passage. Not to the first word necessarily,
but to verse 5 where Peter says likewise. And that little word
there indicates that there is a similar principle in the flow
of thought. The elders of the church were
just exhorted. And how you can make them out
to be anything other than leaders in the church is really absurd. Peter calls on them as a fellow
elder. And he’s not talking about being
merely an old man. Because it goes on to point to
the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory. And
he exhorts them to shepherd the flock of God. Now, there are
some and probably one of the most bizarre models of leadership
I ever heard was where one took a very detailed account of a
rather Hebrews chapter 11 and merely said there that the the
elders there of Ephesians 11 are the leaders of the church,
whether they’re male or female. It is the aged ones who are the
leaders. Well, It just doesn’t hold water,
not from Scripture. Peter told these elders to shepherd
the flock of God, to watch over them, to exercise oversight. Another word for the office itself,
as we saw, which was wrongly translated for almost 500 years,
bishop. He isn’t instituting a third office here. He’s telling
them that they must watch over this flock of God committed to
their care. That it can’t be under compulsion. It must be voluntarily. It can’t
be for sordid gain. It must be with eagerness. They
can’t lord over those allotted to their charge. But they must be examples to
the flock. Peter was talking about the eldership here. Peter’s
talking about church leadership. And they were just exhorted in
verse three not to lord their leadership position over those
allotted to their care, their flock. And in the very next thought,
Peter turns his attention to the flock and says, likewise,
I have something to say to you. Peter had an exhortation for
the elders, and now he has one for the younger members of the
church. As one pastor said, the same
rule of unselfishness is applied both to the shepherds and to
the sheep. We are all called to a godly
standard in Christ’s church. Another characterized it in even
more simple terms. He said, although no one is exempt
from Peter’s exhortation to be submissive to the elders, he
targets specifically the younger men. And he did so probably because
it’s so obvious that they generally tend to be the most aggressive
and headstrong members of any group. Now, we’ll come back to
that thought in a moment. But the bottom line here, he says,
you younger men likewise be subject. A lot of people are nervous about
this whole idea. We’ll play this out more fully
as we go this morning. But a lot of people are very
nervous, especially in the church, about this whole concept of church
leadership and of being submitted to them. In fact, you know, the leadership
has fallen on hard times in that regard because it has been abused
in various circles, even in the church. It has been abused. This
does not give the eldership license to run counter to Scripture.
And the moment that the eldership advances an idea that is anti-biblical
or extra biblical, you have not only the right, but the obligation
to refuse them. Now, that’s not to say that every
little decision that the eldership makes must be and is necessarily
supportable by scriptural principle. In fact, even the writers of
the confessions stated it quite clearly. When they said, the
whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His
own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life is either expressly
set down or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture. They say this
has it all. Nevertheless, the writers of
the confessions went on. And they said that nothing is
to be added to the Scriptures at any time, whether by new revelation
of the Spirit or traditions of men. And you would have those,
especially in our heritage of Baptist backgrounds, who would
absolutely criticize the charismatic movement for its extra-biblical
revelation, who bring in truckloads of extra-biblical traditions.
things that Scripture says nothing about. Now, that’s not what I
came to preach about. Where was I? The whole counsel of God is right
here. But to go on to say, nevertheless,
we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit to be necessary.
You can’t just read the plain Scriptures. You also need the
Holy Spirit to attend to those things, to apply them to your
heart, for salvation. And it goes on and it says, and
there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God
and the government of the church, human actions and societies which
are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence,
according to the general rules of the word. What the writers
there basically say is that you’re not going to find chapter and
verse that says church starts at nine o’clock. You’re not going
to find chapter and verse, we believe, that says communion
must be done on a weekly basis or every other week basis or
a monthly basis. You’re not going to find it.
And that’s why it gives the leadership of the church latitude to make
some of those decisions as long as they don’t run counter to
the clearly stated principles of Scripture. Otherwise, this
whole idea of submission to church leadership is made infinitely
easy. All we have to do is quote Scripture
to you. And in a sense, if you have the
Scriptures, you don’t need the eldership. Peter says you need
both. Peter advanced that idea In chapter
two, when he said that we are to long for the pure milk of
the word, he doesn’t say that we do away with the word by our
elders. But neither does he say that
by the word that we are able to do away with the eldership,
God gave them both and he gave them for the church. And he says,
ultimately, the church is to be subject, submitted to the
leadership of the church. This idea of subjection, you
know, it’s uncomfortable, right? It’s uncomfortable in your workplace.
I know that. It’s uncomfortable when governors from Arkansas become
presidents. It’s uncomfortable when your
boss is a tyrant. It’s uncomfortable when your
husband is an adult. I know that. But nevertheless,
the principle is there in Scripture that we are by nature. It is to be second nature to
us to be yielded people, submitted people. 1 Peter 2.13 Submit yourselves
for the Lord’s sake. You honor him in your submission
to every human institution. Whether to king is one an authority
and Peter goes on, you know the passage. In 1 Peter chapter 2,
18, he comes back to the very thought. Servants, servants be
submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those
who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. In 1 Peter 3, 1. Wives, be submissive
to your own husbands. It’s not that wives, as we saw
there, are submitted to men in general as if they are some second-class
citizen. It is to their own husbands by
way of order. 1 Peter 3.5 For this way, in former times,
the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves
being submissive. This is a way to honor God and
glorify Him in whatever arena we’re found. Children? are to
be submissive to their parents, workers to their employers and
so on and so forth. I love the way one pastor characterized
this submission. The submission in the church,
the purpose is not to encourage obedience, no matter what leaders
might say. For if leaders give counsel that
contradicts God’s word, then they should not be followed.
Nor is the verse suggesting that leaders are exempt from accountability
before the congregation. Some time ago, our Constitution
came under some scrutiny. And it suggested that the elders
in our church have far too much latitude and we demand far too
much and we’re unaccountable to anybody. And I went in and
in just one section, Twenty-six times it says that the elders
are accountable. They’re accountable to you and
they’re accountable to God. They are, just as Peter said,
from among you. We don’t stand over you as if
the rules don’t apply to us. Leaders are in submission. to God and to the
congregation in a very real sense. They’re not exempt from accountability
in any way. Those who are under leadership
should be inclined to follow and submit to their leaders.
They should not be resisting the initiatives of leaders and
complaining about the direction of the church. That’s what that
peaceable submission is all about. But Peter, for some reason, singles
out a group in the church. If you’re familiar with the book
of Titus, you know Titus chapter 2. First, he turns his attention
to the older men in chapter 2, and then to the older women,
and then to the younger women, and then finally to the younger
men. Did I say Peter? Paul. Paul wrote
Titus. In Titus chapter 2, Paul wrote
those things. He sectioned out the church into
four basic groups. Peter merely acknowledges that
there is one that especially must be submitted and yielded
to the leadership of the church, and that is the young men. The
pastor I cited a moment ago merely pointed out the obvious, that
the young men tend to be the most aggressive and headstrong.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They read the Scriptures. They become passionate about
the things of God and they want to take charge and they want
to take responsibility and they want to proclaim Christ and see
the church advance. And those are great things. Great
things. But they must be submitted to
the leadership of the church. Otherwise, they run off in all
different directions. Peter refers to those who are
literally younger. It’s not a subservient office.
A lot of times people want to take this and say that what Peter’s
referring to here is deacons and says that, you know, they’re
kind of you have the elders, which are not really older. They’re
just elders. And you have the deacons, which
technically are younger. I mean, it’s an absurd argument.
It’s absurd. Peter’s referring to those who
are literally younger, younger men. The younger in particular were
to submit to the leadership of the elders. And essentially, that is because
both groups need each other desperately. Both groups need each other.
The younger men need the wisdom and stability of their older
brothers. The older brothers, a lot of times, have tried some
of these things and they’ve gotten bopped on the nose. And they’re
only trying to prevent you the same heartache that they experienced. That’s what wisdom is. And the older need the energy
and the enthusiasm and the creativity of the younger. And that is how
those things are passed on from generation to generation. But
there is no sanction for this fleeing the eldership and going
off on your own and doing your own thing. This is exactly why Peter in 1 Timothy
3 said, do not lay hands on a new convert. Somebody comes in, he’s
all enthusiastic. The last thing you want to do
is ordain him into ministry quickly. This is Paul’s counsel. When
Paul wrote Titus chapter 2, he said in Titus chapter 2 verse
6, urge the young men to be sensible. Typically speaking, they lack
all the life experience and wisdom and urge them to gain that wisdom
and to apply that wisdom. And the first order of business
is to be subject to the elders. Listen to them. Obey them. Work with them. Urge the young
men to be sensible. In all things, show yourself
to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,
sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent
will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”
Paul didn’t want new converts running amuck in the church,
and that’s exactly what Peter says here. Submit yourselves. Now, that
is not to say that the only troublemakers in the church are young men.
I think I’ve said it before, I know full well why Paul said
that, ladies, if you have questions, let them ask their husbands first
at home. Because the zingers that I’ve
received from the floor almost always have come from those cantankerous
women who sit in the back and, you know, they wiggle in their
chair and they wait. They are so frustrated they can’t even
hold it in until they can fire the zinger. It’s not just young
men. But what Peter sees here is that
this is the lifeblood of the church. This is the future of
the church. And the only way to advance the ministry of the
church is to advance this idea of brotherly submission within
the church. The problem is, as one said,
this 20th century American evangelicalism with its heritage of democratic
values and long history of congregational church government often tends
to view the concept of elder rule with suspicion, a new and
subversive concept that threatens the very life of the church.
You see, we believe that it is an American right that carries
forth even into the church that we vote, that we collectively
decide on what is good and right. That’s what he says. I’ve been in many meetings where
you begin to talk about elder rule and leadership in the church,
and you always have somebody say, you know, I don’t like this
thought, elder rule. It just sounds too heavy. Well,
I apologize for that, but that’s a biblical word. It’s a biblical
concept. We’ll see in a moment. The Scriptures
are replete. This isn’t just Peter out of
his own insecurity as a new apostle and appointing fledgling elders. This isn’t an instable Peter
talking alone here. This is the very heart of Scripture. This is what God desires in the
church. Hebrews 13, 17 perhaps says it
as strong as any passage in Scripture. Obey your leaders. And He wasn’t
talking about your governing officials there. Obey your leaders
and submit to them. Why? For they keep watch over
your souls. That’s what the elders, the leaders
in the church are saddled with. That is their responsibility.
They are watching over those sinful tendencies that so easily
creep in. They keep watch over your souls
as those who will give an account. We talked about this already.
One day, Trey and I, and perhaps more in the Lord’s time, will
stand before God and the Lord himself will open the ledger
of Providence Bible Church and he will go through each name
and he will ask us to give an account. It’s an absolutely humbling
thought. Whenever somebody comes and talks
to me about being an elder or being a leader, I take them to
this verse. Is this really what you want? Listen to Hebrews 13. It goes
on. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch
over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them
do this. Let them keep watch with joy
and not with grief. Some people make the ministry
so difficult. They fight and kick and bite
and scratch. I never knew sheep could do that. Every little thing, they buck
your leadership. They buck your oversight of their
souls. And it becomes grievous. I know the feeling. I know exactly
what the writer of Hebrews says here. And that’s why he says,
let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this grief
would be unprofitable for you. If your elders, if your leadership
is trying to lead and you’re grieving their souls and all
they’re trying to do is do the right thing and you keep bucking
their leadership and grieving their souls, it ultimately is
unprofitable for you because they’re not able to do effectively
what God has called them to do in your midst. There’s another passage. Did
I have you turn to Hebrews 13? Turn away from Hebrews 13 to
1 Thessalonians. Write down Hebrews 13, 17 for
the quiz. Hebrews 13, 17. Right now, turn
to 1 Thessalonians 5. There is this pattern of brotherly
submission in the Scriptures, and it is replete throughout
the Scriptures. 1 Thessalonians 5. Pick it up
in verse 12. When Paul says, but we request
of you, brethren, and this isn’t just an optional thing for them. He’s telling them what he as
the apostle of the church appointed by Christ wants of them. But
we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who
diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord. Now, there’s that uncomfortable
language. that the modern-day man doesn’t like. He doesn’t
like to think that an elder rules over him. But here, Paul says
it quite plainly. They have charge over you in
the Lord and they give you instructions. And that you esteem them. That
you count them worth a price and you treat them accordingly.
that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work,
live in peace with one another.” Boy, that verse should be on
all of our refrigerators. 1 Timothy 5.17 speaks of elders. Here’s this elder rule language. It speaks of elders who rule
well. Now, I don’t use that language.
I don’t walk into a meeting and say, look, I am your ruler. Submit
to me. But ultimately, the Lord has
saddled the elders as the leaders of the church to rule, to take
charge of that local flock by God’s design. Turn to another
passage of Scripture. First Corinthians 16. First Corinthians 16. Paul is almost done. I think
he tried to close this letter three times. And he’s trying
one more time to close the letter and you pick it up in verse 15.
Now, I urge you, brethren, You know the household of Stephanas,
that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have
devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. Here, when Paul
came through Achaia, he preached the gospel. This household of
Stephanas was the first one. They were the first ones to respond
to the Holy Spirit and come to Christ. He says, you know the
household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of
Achaia, that they devoted themselves for ministry to the saints, and
that you be in subjection to such men and to everyone who
helps in the work and labors. People, this concept of subjection
isn’t just for the local church, but it certainly includes the
local church. It must. Think of subjection
in more broad terms. Think of it biblically. We saw
just a moment ago, Christians are to submit to every human
institution, to rulers and to authorities, to governing authorities,
Romans chapter 13, Titus 3.1 and so on, right? First Corinthians
14 makes clear the case that women are to submit to male church
leadership. It’s clear. I mean, we can argue
and discuss it, but that’s clearly what is being advanced there.
Ephesians 5.21 says all Christians in some beautiful fashion are
to submit to one another, that there is to be this mutual. We
almost ought to not be able to get out the door. We ought to
be deferring to one another to the point where there’s a log
jam at the door. Don’t try it today. Ephesians 5. Verse 22, wives
are to submit to their husbands. And not just Ephesians 5.22,
but Ephesians 5.24, Colossians 3.18, Titus 2.5, 1 Peter 3.1-5. In Ephesians 5.24, Paul makes
a transitional and parallel thought that at times you almost don’t
know what Paul is talking about there in Ephesians 5 because
he goes back and forth these two groups But the church there
is to be subject to Christ. In Titus 2.9, 1 Peter 2.18, bond
slaves, or you might even read there, employees, are to submit
to their masters. The most amazing one in Scripture
to me is Luke 2.51, where we find Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in submission to His earthly parents. Now, I ask you, if we
are to submit to earthly, civil, even unbelieving authorities
in the case of an unbelieving husband, is it too much to ask? Is it beyond God to be able to
ask you to submit to spiritual leaders in the church? I hope
not. Alex Strauch, whose excellent
book really turned the church on its ear in the 80s in considering
these things. He wrote this. In many churches,
a congregational structure exists in which each member has an equal
vote in making community decisions. The elders have no more authority
in voting than anyone else. Certain democratic theories of
government may insist on an equal vote for every every member,
but this is not scriptural. The church is not bound by such
democratic governmental theories. True wisdom does not require
giving every member an equal vote in discerning God’s will
for the church. You’ve been in those meetings
just like I have. And invariably, no matter what
the subject is, the deck gets stacked and it gets stacked by
people getting on the phone. You’ve got to be there Sunday
night. They’re taking the vote. And suddenly people waltz in
who’ve had no dialogue, who’ve done no study on the issue, and
suddenly will raise their hand merely to vote as a block on
a particular issue. It’s foolishness. It’s foolishness. Even last Lord’s Day, in the
Sunday school meeting, what we were preparing to do is to lay
before the church information only. To glean from you wisdom,
not to take a vote. In fact, you’ve heard me say
this a hundred times. I don’t believe in voting because
by the time we get to the point of making a decision, we should
know the hearts of the people. We should know what the people
desire and what’s right and good. And the people should know what
we propose. And we should all move forward
together, if at all. Strauch says later, The New Testament
does not indicate that the congregation governs itself by a majority
vote. There’s no evidence that God has granted every member
one equal vote with every other member. Rather, the New Testament
congregation is governed by its own elders. The elders, according to the
express instruction of the New Testament, have the authority
to shepherd the congregation. And it is that to which Peter
calls not just the young men, but particularly the young men
of the body. Be subject to your elders. The
decisions they make, you need to just go with. And when God
grants you your own church, you can ask for the same kind of
yieldedness in a brotherly fashion. There are three timeless instructions
that are given to the flock of God. These weren’t just written
to Peter’s day and age. These were written to every church
in every age. In Peter’s day and age, there
no doubt were authority issues that suddenly this new authority
was coming onto the scene. And the last thing that people
wanted was another authority over them because they feared
the Roman type of authority. They feared that government.
They hated it. But it’s as necessary in our
own day as it was then. The first timeless instruction
is that the flock is to be submitted to the leadership of the church.
The second timeless instruction is that they are to be humble
to one another. If they are to be submitted to
the church leadership, this is the other parallel attitude,
that of humility. Look at verse 5 again. When Peter
writes, you younger men likewise be subject to your elders and
all of you, lest you think that this submission is going to stop
with the young men themselves as if they were the only ones
in focus. Peter says, look, everybody listen
up. And I believe that what he means here is you elders included. Listen, listen to me. All of
you. Whether you’re rich or poor,
male or female, whether you’re trained in seminary or not. I
don’t care who you are. Listen to me, all of you, clothe
yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed
to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. All of you clothed yourselves
with humility. That means we’re all supposed
to be humble toward one another. And you would have people that
would call that kind of thing absurd, that we’re all somehow
supposed to submit to one another, to defer to one another, as Scripture
encourages. The world would say that it’s
contradictory and absurd. But if you have Christ If you’ve
been clothed with righteousness, you find it easy to put on the
robe of humility. One person said that humility,
like a meek and quiet spirit, is an ornament of great value,
a beautiful and costly robe. It’s a priceless robe that we
put on when we put on humility. It is absolutely indispensable
to the success fruit of the church. Fruitfulness, rather, of the
church. Ephesians 4, verse 1-2, I, the
prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy
of the calling which you’ve been called. How? How have we been
called to walk? And Paul goes to lay it out with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance
for one another in love. It’s the core doctrine. It starts
there. Everything else spins off of,
as it were, this attitude of humility. You know the passage,
Philippians 2, where Paul writes there, if there’s any encouragement
in Christ, and he’s looking for the minutest modicum of grace
at work in a believer’s heart. If there’s any encouragement
in Christ, If there’s any consolation of love, if there’s any fellowship
of the Spirit, if there’s any affection and compassion, then
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining
the same love, united in Spirit, intent on one purpose. How do
we do that? Do nothing from selfishness or
empty conceit, but with humility of mind. Regard one another as
more important than yourselves. That is humility. That’s what
humility is. Be of the same mind toward one
another. Do not be haughty in mind, but
associate with the lowly. The root word, when you look
at this beautiful passage, clothe yourselves with humility. The
root word for clothe there has the meaning of to tie a knot. That’s what the Greek word meant.
To tie a knot. And so it came to refer to all
loose clothing that could be tied in a knot, whether it was
a sash or a scarf or whatever, anything that was needed to tie
a knot. But often it referred to a garment, this small white
garment of a slave that was loose and flowing, that often was tied
and tucked in and girded. It’s called a slave’s apron. And as a fisherman, Peter knew
this garment. Peter knew what this kind of garment was, a garment
that had to be knotted so it could be out of his way. But
there’s no doubt in my mind exactly what was in Peter’s mind as he
uttered these words. That what Peter’s language indicates
here is that he was still overwhelmingly mindful of a short little example
provided to him and the apostles by the Lord Jesus Himself, when
He clothed Himself with humility. Turn to John chapter 13. I mentioned this passage several
weeks ago. We’ll take it a little bit slower
this morning. In John chapter 13, Christ and the apostles are in
the upper room. You know the scenario. It’s the
feast of the Passover and Christ is soon to be arrested. And I want to look at this slave’s
apron. This humility that Christ clothes
himself with in this very passage, and I believe with all my heart,
this is exactly what Peter had in mind. Look at verse 1. Now, before the feast of the
Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He should
depart out of this world, having loved His own who were in the
world, He loved them to the end. I’m going to tell you some thoughts
about this passage. Humility, humble service, first
of all, is motivated by love for others. This is where Christ came from.
He wasn’t just giving them a bald, plain example. He loved them
and He wanted them to have this precious gift. And during supper? Check that. Note that. During supper. Here’s Jesus eating
His last meal with the apostles. And during supper, He gets up. During supper, he’s interrupted.
And I would tell you point number two here is that service, loving,
humble service, is by nature inconvenient. A lot of people
will tell you that they’re waiting for the right time, or they’re
waiting for the right ministry, or they’re waiting for the right
moment, but they’re waiting. Because at the moment, it’s inconvenient. Service by nature is inconvenient. During supper, The devil, having
already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
to betray him. You know what the amazing thing
here is? That Jesus, when He got up and washed the disciples’
feet here, He washed even Judas’ feet. Jesus, verse 3, knowing that
the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had
come forth from God and was going back to God, Jesus was sensitive
to the brevity of time that he had. He knew this was the moment. And we never do. We always think
that we’ve got tomorrow. We always think that we’ve got
more opportunity. We always think we’ll have another chance. He
rose from supper, verse 4, laid aside his garments, and taking
a towel, girded himself about. This is the image, people. This
is exactly what Peter had in mind, I believe. He girded himself
about, then he poured water into the basin and he began to wash
the disciples’ feet. Humble, loving service is responsive
to opportunities. Jesus saw what everybody else
ignored, and that was dirty feet. Jesus saw it and he rose to do
something about it and thereby to offer us this perpetual example. You know the amazing thing to
me? I’ve observed this countless times as I read this passage.
No one stood up to help Him. No one. Where was bold Peter
that wanted to build tents on a mountaintop? Why didn’t Peter
get a towel and say, Lord, let me dry? And you know the Lord
would have rebuked him. This Jesus had to do alone, but
nobody helped Him. Nobody offered. And so often
we wait. We lacked the humility to serve
alone. We wanted to be a group. We wanted
to be serviced by committee instead of standing up and taking a leadership
and serving alone. to wash the disciples’ feet and
to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. And you
talk about the most humbling, the most degrading task of all? To wipe the very towel that girds
you on people’s dirty feet? This is the Lord. This is the
Lord. And this is the Lord’s example
to us. So He came to Simon Peter, and you remember the whole deal.
No, no, Lord. And Peter didn’t even understand
what Jesus was doing. But he does now. He does now
when he says that we must all, all of you, clothe yourselves
with humility. He knows exactly what the Lord
means now when he writes in 1 Peter. As we said at the outset, this
is the apostle of a grace changed life. The Holy Spirit had touched
him and changed him. And the Lord turned him around
here on this occasion, on this very point. Look down at verse 12. When he
had washed their feet and taken his garments again, he reclined
at the table. You know, the other amazing thing
is nobody, when it was all said and done, said, Lord, would you
mind it? You just did our feet. Could
we do your feet? Lord, could I wash your feet? So many times we expect service
to be reciprocal and it can’t be. You can’t go in that way.
That’s not humility. You’ve got to go in blindly.
You’ve got to go in alone and serve alone and serve knowing
that maybe no one will ever reciprocate. So do you know what I’ve done
to you? Verse 13, you call me teacher and Lord, and you are
right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the teacher,
washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another’s feet. Humble
service, people, is not respectful of our position. There shouldn’t
be anything below or beneath any of us because of any earthly
title that we possess. That’s the humility. that Peter
was enjoining upon his readers when he said, all of you clothe
yourselves with humility. And before we say another word
or examine another syllable, let’s examine our hearts and
we’ll meditate on this entire passage, John 13, before the
next Lord’s Day. Let’s examine our humble service
before God. Is it so? Let’s pray. Our merciful King, we bow before you and we acknowledge
you as the Lord of the universe. And we acknowledge ourselves
as so proud and so troubled and so wayward. Lord, we pray for that kind of
humble submission that Peter spoke of in the church. We pray for that kind of peace
that comes as a fruit of it. The father in focus at this moment
and for this week is the humility that issues forth in service.
When Peter urged us to be girded and clothed with humility, He
didn’t just mean sitting meekly and mildly in the corner, but
he meant a humble and eager service on behalf of the flock, the saints
of God. Examine us, Father, to see what kind of service we offer.
Be glorified, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. So,