Arizona sun., 1947-03-07

On the eve of his crucifixion our
Lord gave to his followers striking
example of how true humility shows
itself in service to others.
Almost in the shadow of the cross
the disciples had fallen into an ar
gument about which of them should
be greatest. Christ showed them
the way of true greatness by an act
of menial service, giving them an
example for their own lives, pat
tern of love.
I. Action (vv. BID.
He who was about to wash his dis
ciples feet was fully conscious who
he was, whence he came, what his
power was, and where he was going.
Verse gives us a clear view of
our Lords knowledge of himself as
divine, sent by the Father and to
return to him. He was conscious
that he was King Of kings and Lord
of lords-al things had been put
into his hands.
What followed would seem to be
mistake-a misfit in the pattern Of
the life Of a being so great as the
one described in verse 3-except for
the fact that it was Jesus of whom
1t was said.
He knew that real greatness
proves itself in the ability to stoop
If need be to minister to the hum
blest need. It was just like Jesus to
take the place Of the servant. It is
just like him to do the loving,
thoughtful, compassionate thing for
US today.
Peters impulsive refusal to be
washed enabled the Lord to teach
him, and us, a needed lesson. The
one who had come clean and we'll
groomed to the feast needed only to
have the dust Of the road cleansed
from his sandaled feet.
Just so the one who has been
cleansed from his sins by the blood
of Christ returns daily for the
cleansing Of the stains and soil Of
the journey through this wicked
world. We must remember that this
constant cleansing Il John I'D is
necessary. 1t is not enough to make
a decision for Christ and receive
salvation; we need his daily grace
for daily living.
III. Example WV. 12-15).
When he resumed his place at the
table, Jesus faced a humbled and
ashamed group of men ready to
have .driven home to their hearts
the powerful meaning Of the exam
pie which had been set before them.
They called him Lord and Mas
ter, and he agreed that they were
right. Now he had set them a pat
tern of lowly service. They had al
ready sensed the rebuke involved.
so he stressed only the positive side.
the need for them to do what he had
done. al,
It is one thing to understand what
has been taught, it is another thing
to put it into practice. Jesus con-
ditioned his blessing on the doing,
rather than the hearing (see Wv. 16,
~.
We are told in James 1922 that
the one who is a hearer Of the
Word and not doer of it Is self
deceived. He is fooling himself
about his supposed spiritual prog
ress. God is not deceived by it, and
usually his fellow men are not de-
ceived by his profession of what he
does not have. How sad then to go
on deceiving himself and how fool.
iSh.
III. Command wv. "a, 35).
It is really not a matter of choice
for the believer whether he will live
IN the light of this great example
it is a commandment Of God. Oh,
yes, it is a commandment Of love,
but that makes it not less but more
binding on us who believe in Christ.
BY act and example he set before
his disciples the great and new
commandment of love. expressing it.
self in loving service.
The measure of our love for our
brethren is the love of Christ Jesus.
That love, we all agree, was without
limit. unbelievably great, mex
pressibly tender, infinite in its pur-
pose and power.
We cannot measure up to it. What
then shall we do? Surely we must
give to our very limit and beyond
that limit by Gods grace, of our
love for one another. Nothing less
will do, if we are to keep his COM
mandment.
Such love between Christian breth-
rem has always been the most ef-
fective kind of testimony for Christ.
AS men see true and sacrifcial love
shown between Christians, they are
drawn to Christ and the church.
The opposite is also true. Divi-
sions and strife among believers
quickly become known to the world,
and are always ground for scorn-
full rejection of the truth which the
church processes to believe and is
asking the world to accept. We can.
not effectively apply the gospel rem.
edy (and it is the only remedyD to
a strife-torn world while we are en-.
gagged in unlovely battles with one
another. by this shall all men