Love is not some kind of emotional impulse. It's not some kind of feeling. It's not some kind of earthly attraction. Love is simply meeting someone's need to the point of self-sacrifice. It is humiliating oneself for an expression that meets a need.
Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. At the height of their popularity, the Beatles headlined the first ever live international satellite broadcast. It was a television show called Our World. The show's producers asked John Lennon to write a song that could be understood in any culture.
All you need is love, was the result. And as the Beatles manager said, the song can't be misinterpreted. It's a clear message saying that love is everything.
Well, discussions about love certainly permeate our culture, and as you'll hear today, there is a lot of misinterpretation of what genuine love is and how to practice it. To clear up the confusion, follow along as John MacArthur continues his current series, The Pillars of Christian Character. And with today's lesson, here's John. Let's go to John 13. And this is one of those great passages.
It is a profound insight into this most needful of spiritual motives, love, this most essential of spiritual attitudes. which our Lord addresses here. Let's start in verse 1.
Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus Knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world, to the father. Having loved his own who were in the world. He loved them. To the end. Or to the limit, to the max, to perfection.
Jesus is on the edge right now of A very, very terrible experience. They are gathered together, these disciples, in the upper room. This is that final evening when Judas did his. Terrible treachery against the Lord and went out to betray him. That all comes out in this chapter.
These blockheaded, self-centered disciples are having an argument about which of them will be the greatest in the kingdom. And in the midst of the treachery of Judas, And in the midst of the dissimilation of these disciples away from the Lord toward their own selfish purposes and goals, here is Judas who is about to betray him. Here are the disciples in this ugly debate about which of them will be the greatest, and all of them certainly having no consideration for what the Lord is about to go through, even though he has told them just before this. That he's going to have to to die like a grain of wheat that falls into the ground. They are indifferent to that and preoccupied with their own course.
It is in that very environment which would find them as distasteful as possible to any normal human feelings, where it says he loved his own who were in the world, and he loved them. to the max. The love of Jesus toward his own is not conditional. He loves them to the max in the moment of their ugliest indifference. Verse 2, this begins to unfold the demonstration of this love.
It's as if verse 1 identifies the subject of the chapter. The subject is how Jesus loved. And here's the story. During supper, the devil Having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, that means from the town of Kerioth. The son of Simon to betray him.
The devil had already done his work and captivated the unconverted heart of Judas. and set it up for the betrayal. Jesus, 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. This is very important. In the midst of all of this, there really was never any fear on Jesus' part.
The betrayal had to come, the execution had to come, but Jesus knew in the end that he had come from the Father and He was going back there in spite of all of this. Certainly, in the garden, he agonized over the reality that he would have to be separated from the Father and bear the weight of guilt for sin, all of that creating sweat, which, as it were, was great drops of blood. There's no question about the agony, but there was no fear about how it would turn out. Jesus knew how it would turn out. He had come from God in his incarnation, and he would go back.
And of course, he prays to that end so magnificently in the seventeenth chapter. He rose, verse four says, from supper. And he laid aside his garments. He took off his outer cloak and was probably stripped down to the waist with just the garments that were discreet and modest, worn around the waist. His legs perhaps bare and his upper body bare as he stooped down.
Took a towel, it says and girded himself about. He put a towel around his waist. And he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. This is one of the great scenes in the life of our Lord.
Something you need to know. It was customary, it was traditional, but more than that, it was necessary to have a foot washing before you had a banquet. Because uh in those days the the people wore sandals. And sometimes we're nothing but bare feet. And when you came to a banquet, it would only be appropriate that you would wash your feet.
Because either they were dusty if it was dry. or they were muddy if it was wet. And since folks had prolonged dinners, which went on well through the evening, it would be a terrible, terrible lack of. Thoughtfulness. to approach such an occasion without having your feet clean.
It was also customary to recline at dinner. In other words, they sort of lounged a bit, and that could be. exceedingly distressful if your head was near the next guy's feet. It was therefore appropriate in ancient times for a foot washing to occur, and whoever was the lowest slave on the social. Ladder got that job.
Obviously, that wasn't one job that you lined up for. It wasn't the most popular job, but it was a job for the lowest slave on the totem pole. Apparently in this upper room. Which the Lord and his disciples had rented or borrowed for the evening to have their Passover supper in Jerusalem. There was no such servant available, and none of the disciples in an argument about who is the greatest in the kingdom is going to do that.
None of them wants to put himself in some kind of humble light for fear he might lose out on the argument.
So nobody does it. And so the Lord does it. He's waiting. And nobody does it. Takes off his outer tunic.
And then puts a towel around his waist. Pours water into a basin and washes the disciples' feet. As he begins, He comes to Simon Peter. And Peter says things of note, whether he should or not. And you have to keep in mind that Peter spoke not only for himself, but.
Was really the spokesman for the rest, and when he spoke, he may not have been speaking unilaterally, but.
sort of articulating a consensus.
So he came to Simon Peter. There must have been somewhat of silence as he started this process. The King of Glory Doing this most dirty and menial of tasks, He comes to Peter and Peter said to him, Lord. Do you wash my feet? And I'm sure he spoke for the rest.
You shouldn't be doing this. Jesus answered and said to him, What I do. You do not realize now. But you shall understand hereafter. What does he mean?
Peter still didn't understand the condescension. He still didn't understand the self-emptying of Philippians 2. He still didn't understand how low Jesus would come. You think this is something? You don't understand anything yet.
Wait till you see what I do. Just a few. Days from now. When I go to the cross and rise again. When I'm buried in and an ignominious death.
in a common grave. For you, you don't understand my humiliation, but you're going to understand. Peter said to him, Peter was not averse to even commanding God, you'll notice here. Peter said to him, Never shall you wash my feet. Boy, he was a bold character, wasn't he?
He's talking to the creator of the universe.
Sovereign Lord. Never shall you wash my feet. And there's a part of it that That is admirable. I mean, he just said it's not right. You're the perfect sinless one.
You're the Lord and Master. This isn't right. I'm not going to let you do this. And Jesus answered him. If I do not wash you, You have no part with me.
And Jesus is speaking spiritually here. And he's saying, listen, Peter. Don't tell me not to wash your feet. Because spiritually, If I didn't wash you, you wouldn't have any relationship to me. This is a symbol.
of that washing. If I don't wash you. You have no part with me. I don't know that Peter really understood that. It was a statement of great spiritual significance that Peter had to have his heart washed by Christ or he wouldn't have any relationship with God at all.
I don't know that Peter grasped that. I'm not sure Peter knew what he meant. But he says, if I don't wash you, you're not going to have any part with me. And I love Peter's about face. Verse 9, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
I want a relationship with you. Give me a bath. Again, this just points up the fact that the disciples were unclear. They were still trying to sort out what in the world was going on. They had come to the conviction that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Peter had said that. They knew he was the Lord. They knew the record of his being born of a virgin. They knew his powers seen in miracles. They were there when he walked on the water and still the storm.
They knew he was the creator God. They knew that. He told them he had to die. He told them he would rise in three days. He told them, like a corn of wheat, he would fall into the ground.
And die and bear fruit. You told them he would lose his life to gain it again. You told them all that. They knew he had come for a saving purpose. They knew the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
They knew he came as a sacrificial lamb. They knew he was the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. They knew all of that, but somehow it didn't all work together. And they still weren't able to accept. The execution of Christ.
on the cross And so, in the simplicity of what Peter may or may not have understood, the Lord says, if I don't. Wash. You, you have no part with me? And he said, Then wash me. I want to part with you.
But Jesus said to him, and here's the further spiritual teaching: he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean. But not all of you. What is he saying? Peter, I don't need to wash you from head to toe. I've done that.
What do you mean? You're saved, Peter. That's the spiritual implication. I don't need to re-wash you. You don't need a bath, you just need your feet cleaned.
This is a very marvelous spiritual truth. As a Christian, you have one washing. and a lot of feet cleaning. Yeah. There's one time when you're cleansed head to toe.
When you're saved, when you experience the washing of regeneration. As Paul calls it, there's one time when you're fully cleansed, but as you walk through the world, you need that constant washing of those feet that collect the dust and the dirt of this. Fallen.
Society Peter, you don't need another bath. This affirms that Peter was genuinely converted. genuinely regenerated. genuinely cleansed and washed of his sin, But he just needed courage. Constant foot cleansing.
That's a beautiful analogy. We who come to Christ are washed from head to toe, as it were spiritually. We are totally cleansed. Our sins are completely washed away. But as we walk through the world, we need the constant confession and repentance and cleansing day to day that keeps our feet clean so that we can continue to have part with the advancement of Christ in His glorious kingdom.
Then in verse 11. For he knew the one who was betraying him. For this reason, he said, Not all of you are clean. There was one in that group that wasn't clean. There was one unconverted disciple.
There was one unsaved disciple. Who was it? Judas Jesus said of him, One of you is a devil. He was never a believer. He was never converted.
He was never real. Peter, he says, you're clean. Not all of you are clean. Because there was one Who would betray him? And so in verse 12, when he had washed their feet, And taken his garments and reclined at the table again.
He got done with all the feet. Twenty-four of them. Can't imagine that what The disciple would feel as the Lord did that, looking down at him. and having him look up into his face. When he was all done.
He put back his tunic. Put the sash on. sat down at the table. and said to them, Here it is. Do you know?
What I have done to you, Do you understand this? You call me teacher and lord. And you're right.
So I am. If I then the Lord and the teacher Wash your feet. You also ought to what? To what? wash one another's feet, For I gave you an example that you should do.
as I did. to you. You see, verse 16 says, Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master. Neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Now listen, let me pull this together. Having loved his own, who were in the world. He loved them. to the max. How did he demonstrate that love to them?
He demonstrated that love to them by humbling himself. He demonstrated that love to them by humbling himself to the most base. to the dirtiest To the most undesirable task of washing the filthy feet of self-centered disciples. And he would even go beyond that. And die on the cross, bearing their sins, including the sins of indifference and selfishness.
He had given them a profound Object lesson. in how love acts. He loved them to the end, to the max. And what's the max? Selfless sacrifice, humiliation.
Meeting needs at the lowest level, even giving your life for your friends.
Now, the application of this great lesson comes down in verses thirty. four and thirty-five. A new commandment I give you. He says to them, Judas is gone by now. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another.
This is the new commandment. And somebody says, but how? Even as I have loved you. How had he just loved them? By what?
washing their feet. And again, I remind you: love is not some kind of emotional impulse, it's not some kind of feeling, it's not some kind of earthly attraction. Love is simply, regardless of feelings, emotions, attraction, love is simply meeting someone's need to the point of self-sacrifice. It is humiliating oneself. for an expression that meets a need.
So a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. even as I have loved you, that you also Love. One Another We're to love the same way. Listen, beloved, it's that simple. It's all about being unselfish.
And I'm telling you, this is against the grain of every single thing in our society, isn't it? It's against the grain of all of it. This is the most selfish culture on the face of the earth. Maybe the most selfish culture ever. totally absorbed with itself.
Talking about love and understanding nothing about it. Seeing love as taking, taking, taking, taking, and defining it predominantly as sex. How are they ever going to see the reality? Verse 35. By this All men will know that you are my disciples.
If you have love. for one another. If we are the body of Christ. And we are. If we are to manifest the virtue and characteristic of Christ and come to the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ, if we are to demonstrate the full knowledge of the Son of God, if we are to be conformed to His image, if we are to be like Him, then we must demonstrate the love that He loved with, and that means we have to sacrifice ourselves for each other, and that might mean the washing of feet.
And it might mean the giving of a life. And I don't necessarily mean the giving of a life in death. It might mean the giving of the life in life. Do you love? Do you love to the degree where you are eager to humble yourself as fast as you can to meet somebody else's real need?
Where you are willing to sacrifice what you have, what you are, your plans, your time, your money. For someone else's need. Do you love like that? Do you love to the point of the Washing of feet, do you love to the point of that? Greater love that no man has than laying down your life for your friends.
One of the most I think encouraging letters I ever received, it must be on the list of the. memorable ones because I remember it so vividly came from a girl who was a student at USC. And she was teaching here in a Sunday school class. She wrote me this letter. And she said, um I have a class of junior age girls.
And she said, I I kept telling myself I loved them. I loved their little curls, and I loved their little smiles, and I loved their pretty dresses. I just loved the fact that they were sweet little girls. And then one day she said, All of this in a letter. I came to the realization that I was spending about 10 minutes preparing my lesson.
And I realized that I didn't love them at all. Because I made no sacrifice to bring them the greatest gift that I could bring them. which was the truth of God's Word. And she said, I got on my knees before God and confessed my. unloving attitude.
I had emotional Feelings for those sweet little girls. I didn't love them. She said love means preparing diligently. to give them My best. Even if it meant I couldn't go to the football game.
or some other campus activity.
Well, that's now you're in the category of the real stuff. That's exactly it. Biblical love is not chemistry. It's not common interest. It's not impulse, it's not emotion, it is self- sacrifice.
And when you love like that, And I love like that. The church will be Christ-like, and the world will know that we belong to God. Dear ones, let me tell you, we have to demonstrate an alternative. We can't follow the same course they're following. We can't transfer love into the sexual category and obliterate it altogether.
We can't destroy the family, destroy marriages and all of that, and hope to pass on the true reality of what. Love is. Love is self-sacrifice. Maybe your life and your marriage and your home Isn't everything that you in some fantasy world would like it to be? But it is the place where you will practice.
And you will teach. Un Selfish love. Closing. More to say, but no time. 1 John 3.
Just summing up, let's go from John's Gospel to John's epistle. 1 John 3:14. We know that we have passed out of death into life. Because we love the brethren. That's how we can demonstrate that we've been saved.
That's how, as John 13:35 said, we demonstrate that we belong to God. Through love, because we love the brethren, and he who doesn't love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
And what does that mean? I mean, does that mean to kill myself? No. How about this? Verse 17.
Whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? It's as simple as meeting a need. With time. and possessions and money. and spiritual instruction and insight and prayer and whatever.
Little children, verse 18, let us not love with word or with tongue. But indeed And truth. Love. An essential Spiritual motivating attitude. in the system of the body of Christ.
Well, let's pray. Father, thank you for one great reality. Romans 5.5. That the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts. How wonderful to know that this love required of us is in us.
and only needs to be manifest. To that end we pray in each life. that you might be glorified. For Christ's sake. Amen.
You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is called The Pillars of Christian Character.
Now something that John said today about God's self sacrificing love, it might make some people wonder, does God's love apply to everyone? Does God love everybody equally? Or is God's love more, say, particular?
Well, we asked John that, and here's what he said. God does not love everyone equally. I know that may be a shock to people, You hear people today, even ministers, say, God loves you unconditionally. God loves you just the way you are. God doesn't love people.
In sin? Under judgment? With A forgiving love? With a gracious love? with a merciful love?
with a saving love. He loves the world in a broad sense, enough to provide. them common grace, the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
So let them live in His beautiful creation, enjoy love and life and family and all of that. God loves people in a general sense so that they enjoy the blessings in His creation. God loves people in a general sense so that they are exposed to who He is through creation and through conscience and the law written in the heart. And God loves people in a general sense, so that they are given the opportunity to hear the gospel, which extends to the whole world. But God loves his own.
in a far different way. He loves them savingly, he loves them with full forgiveness, This love is peculiar and particular only to those who are. his own through faith in Christ. And friend, the notion that God loves some people more than others, that's not a popular view, but it is biblical, and it can drive you to more meaningful worship. To help you dig even deeper into the topic of God's love, I'd like to suggest John's book called The God Who Loves.
It helps you better understand the full scope of God's love, and you can find security in that marvelous attribute. pick up a copy when you get in touch today. The God Who Loves costs $13 and shipping is free. To order, call 80055GRACE or visit gty.org. The title again, The God Who Loves.
Order your copy and maybe a few to give to loved ones at gty.org. or when you call 855 GRACE. And when you get in touch, I'd also encourage you to pick up our flagship resource, the MacArthur Study Bible. Its 25,000 study notes help you grasp the meaning of God's Word verse by verse and see it bear fruit in your life. The Study Bible is available in the English Standard, New American Standard, New King James, and Legacy Standard versions of Scripture, as well as several non-English translations.
To order the MacArthur Study Bible, visit gty.org. or call us at 8005 GRACE.
Now, for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day. Be back tomorrow to find out just how important unity is in your church and how you can begin cultivating it. We'll continue John MacArthur's study, The Pillars of Christian Character, with another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time. Are grace to you.
