John 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus offers us the last word on humility. 

It’s an amazing contrast in some important ways: 

God serves man.

Holy serves sinner.

The Savior serves both the Father and sinners. 

The devil had already prompted Judas to betray Christ, yet Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in an act of humble service.   Scripture does not say Jesus washed everyone’s feet but Judas’ because Jesus knew he was a betrayer.  No, Jesus served even the one who would betray Him.  Jesus, the sinless One, served all of us who rebelled and broke the heart of God by our sins.  In a sense, we’ve all betrayed God and rejected Him and yet, Jesus came.  He loved.

He served to show the superiority of love and humility.

The Father had put all things under Jesus’ power and yet this powerful One would show the full extent of His love by serving the Father who sent Him as well as serving those whose station was beneath His own, sinful man.  Scripture says about Jesus, Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The “condescension of God” in Christ (i.e. the way He stooped down to rescue us) and the humility of Christ to come from God in order to save us is profound.  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

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Give it Up for Lent:  Pride

Put it On for Lent: Humility

For further thought:

Read John 12:42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

• How does your attitude about God get revealed in whose praise you seek?
• Whose praise did Jesus seek?
• Comparing Phil 2:9-10 above with this passage in John 12 (esp. v 48-50), ponder the idea of being a servant and obeying commands.  In what ways did Jesus model what being a servant is all about?
• Does being a servant take away from one’s identity or does it contribute positively toward it?  What makes men bristle at the idea of being a servant?
• Do you agree with this statement? “We all show humility before God now or end up being humbled later.”  What do our Scriptures say?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

“It was just before the Passover Feast.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1)

In our 2015 Lenten devotional series, we’re looking at Jesus’ final words to us before He goes to the Cross.  If the words “light” and “life” characterize the early chapters of the Gospel of John, there is one word that reigns supreme With Christ in the Upper Room (John 13-17).  That word is “love.”

What does it mean that Jesus now showed His disciples the full extent of His love?

In the Greek language, it has a double meaning.  It means both that He loved them to the very end of His days as well as He loved them to the fullest extent possible, which for Jesus, the Son of God, is a lot.

He showed the full extent of His love as final preparation.

Love can be modeled.  Love can be shown.  Love can be seen.  And love can be learned by experience.  But I wonder, can a person be taught how to love? Or do we just remember?

We come into this world as lovers made in Love’s image.  For God is love.  But the assaults of sin in this world cause us to build walls of protection around our hearts to keep us from being hurt.  We are taught—by sin—to resist being vulnerable in love.  Fear of being hurt is a powerful teacher…and a mighty obstacle to knowing how to love others.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

So Jesus came and showed us the Father.  He showed us what Love looks like.  When we see Jesus, we see the Father in whom all Love is perfectly displayed.  Jesus models the beauty of dependence upon the Father, complete with all vulnerability, unafraid of being hurt by sin, and totally trusting in God’s goodness and eternal providence.

Jesus didn’t learn to love.  He is God and God is Love.

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Give it up for Lent: Fear of vulnerability

Put it on for Lent: Love for God and neighbor

For further thought:

• Can a person be taught how to love, or only regarding depth, to love more?  Can a person be taught to hate?
• If yes, how do these things happen?
• Why was it important (as Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death) that they would know the full extent of His love?  See John 3:16-17
• What do love and hate have to do with the manner of the Gospel’s advance against the forces of this world?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

I am at a loss for words regarding the horrific treatment of Christians and Jews around the world, among the latest being the devastating loss of 21 Coptic Christian martyrs at the hands of ISIS.  When Jesus looked down upon that scene, ISIS–the embodiment of evil in the world–vaporized in His sight, and Jesus saw godly men on their knees, 21 people of the Cross in collective prayer.  Twenty-one faithful followers of God in the Egyptian Church.  Good and faithful servants whose names glow with glorious faith in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Brave men who persevered to the end…and overcame…and whose souls cry out from under the altar of God, as in the Book of Revelation:

Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

I want to believe that as they were preparing to lay down their lives for Jesus, the heavens opened up and each was given a sweet vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Majesty on High.  In a stunning vision of the Ancient of Days and in the glory all around His throne, these brave souls saw and felt nothing but joy inexpressible as the love of God in its fullest and purest form showered them with grace.  They have traded orange jumpsuits for white robes.  This world did not deserve these Coptic Christians.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015. 

This year’s devotional series is entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. 

We will work our way through what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.  If these were Jesus’ final preparations for His disciples before He returned to heaven, we are wise to take them to heart in preparation for His return.

If you’re on the email distribution list, you’ll receive the Lent 2015 devotionals automatically as you did with the Advent devotionals.  If you’d like to sign up for this daily inspiration during the 40 days of Lent, you can sign up on the sidebar of the SeminaryGal Home Page or by clicking “Like” on the SeminaryGal Facebook page.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

===note: All the With Christ in the Upper Room devotionals are archived beginning February 18th 2015.