Lessons From Footwashing

Well, greetings brethren. Good to see all of you on this beautiful Sabbath day.

Wanted to start out with a story that we’re all familiar with. Imagine that you’re traveling to a local congregation for the Sabbath over the weekend. Maybe it’s for a social. You’re going to visit other brethren in a different area. You’re getting your preparations together. You have your Bible. Very important. You have a way to take notes, and you have everything you need.

But imagine, instead of driving that twenty miles to visit those brethren that you want to see so badly for the Sabbath, for that social that you have to walk. Can you imagine that? We live in an age where we’re very spoiled, many of us are. We have vehicles that we can drive wherever we want to go, and we don’t have to worry about dirt, mud, all those things, when you’re wearing sandals. Hopefully, you’re wearing sandals. Sometimes people walked when in bare feet during those Old Testament times.

And when you get to your destination, imagine after you’d walk for maybe a day and a half, maybe you had a point in your journey where you had to stop and then you continued on. Because this was a big event and you wanted to be there. And the first thing aside from the hugs and the warm greetings, a wash basin comes out, filled with water, and a nice clean towel accompanies it. And then maybe it’s a servant in the household, or maybe it’s the wife of the household that washes your feet. Now just imagine what that would feel like. Imagine what it would be like to receive that service.

It’s a little hard these days. When you go to someone’s house, maybe they offer to take your coat, they give you a warm hug, but they don’t wash your feet. That would be a little odd, just a little bit out of place, aside from maybe once a year for us, for the baptized members in God’s Church. But imagine that. I imagine it would be appreciated, wouldn’t it? There’s a saying, “My dogs are barking.” If you’ve ever worn work boots all day long, you could say that after about six or seven hours in work boots. But that service that they provided, what was that? What was that for? Now, are there any lessons that we’re supposed to learn from that service that they provided, that foot washing?

And today I’d like to talk about three qualities of foot washing that we can derive from foot washing that should be considered leading up to the Passover season. Please turn over to John chapter thirteen for a little bit of review. I won’t read the whole passage that we normally read, but John chapter thirteen, and we’ll begin in verse four. We’ll just read a couple of verses here. And this is of course just before the Last Supper. Verse four, “He, Christ rises from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself” Verse five, “and after that, He pours water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith, He was girded.”

So we’re all in the process of examining our lives right now, aren’t we, brethren? Self-examination is vitally important leading up to the Passover season. And through that self-examination, the level that we take, the diligence we take, it represents all of our diligence and our willingness to make ourselves low, doesn’t it, and to humble ourselves and to follow Christ’s example.

Please turn over to First Corinthians chapter eleven, and we’ll continue laying some foundation here. First Corinthians chapter eleven, another very familiar verse. First Corinthians eleven and verse twenty-eight, “But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” But also think about the foot washing. That’s part of the Passover service. That’s part of that serving that we do, isn’t it? So that’s also what we’re preparing for when we do that self-examination.

Now, there are many examples of foot washing in the Old Testament. I won’t go through very many of them, but there’s a couple that I’ll just highlight in detail. And this is just to kind of set the example that it was commonplace. It was a common sign that when you were welcoming someone, that was one of the first things you did, was to offer them that opportunity to have their feet cleaned.

Turn back to Genesis chapter eighteen. This is a very famous account, Genesis eighteen. I won’t give a lot of context here, but of course, this is before Abraham realized that the visitors he had were angelic visitors, but he was offering that hospitality, wasn’t he, for visitors? Genesis chapter eighteen and verse four. “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.” So, sojourners, travelers, after they had ended their journey, they were tired. The dogs were barking. So, they needed their feet cleaned. That was a way that they could feel comfortable, at home in someone else’s home, and to experience that hospitality.

Genesis chapter twenty-four, just turn a few pages forward in your Bibles. Another example. Once again, I won’t go through the entire context here, but this is Abraham’s servant arriving at Rebekah’s family home. And when he did, in verse thirty-two of Genesis twenty-four, “And the man came into the house, and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him.” So all that were traveling with him had their feet washed as well. So, it was commonplace.

It was done just as we take someone’s jacket, heavy jacket, during the wintertime when they’re coming to visit us, and giving them a warm hug.

Part of the way individuals were welcomed into someone’s home, their feet were washed, whether it was by a servant or by the lady of the house. But foot washing, of course, is a utility. You’re getting dirt off the feet and they’re clean again. And it’s a show of hospitality, of course, making someone feel welcome in your house. But it’s also something else. And we’ll get into that in a little bit. But at this point, think about what Christ did. Think about His sacrifice. Think about His life as a human being on this earth.

Now, this is a good point where you could take out your pens, if you haven’t already, and write down a few of the qualities that you think a follower of Christ should have as they’re preparing for the Passover season. Write down a few of those things. What qualities that we should be building, that we should be thinking about leading up to the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. But going back to foot washing and talking about hospitality, I wanted to read a couple of definitions here just to establish what that physical act meant.

The definition for hospitality is hospitable treatment, reception, or disposition. And if you think about hospitable, that definition is friendly and welcoming to strangers and guests. So that’s the way we should all be. That’s a quality we should all be trying to grow in ourselves, isn’t it? Ephesians chapter five. As a side note, every pair of feet that I’ve ever washed on the Passover, during the Passover service, has been the cleanest set of men’s feet I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen cleaner feet.

Now, this gives an impression that God’s people have the cleanest feet all year round. And I know that probably isn’t the case. But on that one night, everything is perfect. The nails are trimmed. Maybe if there’s a little dry skin, it was rubbed off and moisturized a little bit, and everything is nice. Because we don’t want whomever we are paired up with to experience something that they weren’t expecting. So, it’s one of those occasions where smiles are appropriate during that service.

But Ephesians chapter five, and we’ll talk a little bit about the direction of the message and the importance of the message from a different perspective. Ephesians five and verse twenty-six. “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” So that’s the important thing. Right, brethren?

We’re deleavening, we’re getting those crumbs out of our houses, out of our cars, out of our workplace, but the important thing is that we’re kind of looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing the crumbs, those loaves of bread, those dinner rolls that we need to take out of our lives, aren’t we? And that’s the important thing to consider, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. And think of that foot washing before the symbols are taken during the Passover service.

Now, Christ set an incredible example for us, didn’t He? We’re supposed to follow that example, and we are followers of Jesus Christ. I hope you wrote a few things down when I asked you to write down some of those qualities. What are those qualities do you think you should be building and leading up to these days? Another perspective can be found in John thirteen. We’ll go back there again. We’ll just consider Peter’s response. John chapter thirteen, Peter’s response to Christ washing his feet.

John chapter thirteen and verse eight. “Peter says unto Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I wash you not, you have no part with me.’” So that’s a big aspect of the foot washing service, isn’t it? Your willingness to lower yourself and to wash someone’s feet, but also your willingness to allow someone to wash your feet. It’s a two-way street, isn’t it? There’s a back-and-forth there. So if you’re reticent to let someone wash your feet, you’re kind of holding them back from their opportunity to wash that night.

But Peter had that attitude. Maybe he felt unworthy, but eventually, when he was chided a little bit, he wanted to wash Christ’s head and hands at the same time. But obviously, that’s taking it too far, wanting to wash more. It’s the feet that we’re focused on. That washing and being washed is symbolic of a servant’s attitude, isn’t it? And we all should have.

So there are three qualities that we’ll cover today, and these apply to everybody sitting in the room today. Could be the youth or could be PMs, those that aren’t baptized into the body of Christ yet, but it all still applies. All these lessons that we’ll be looking at. The first lesson, the first quality, and this is an obvious one, it may be one that you wrote down, but God’s people are humble. And that’s humility. Humility is something we should be striving to grow.

You see Christ’s example. He humbled Himself far and above any other human ever in the flesh humbled themselves. And that shows that greatness comes from lowering. It doesn’t come from you stand up and you puff your chest out. Maybe you’re like Tarzan and you’re beating your chest. That isn’t a mark of humility. But the Son of God lowered Himself to the point where He was on the stake and He died for us. So that level of humility is something we need to be thinking about this time of the year.

Philippians chapter two. Philippians two. Philippians two, we will begin in verse number five. Philippians two verse five. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” He looked like you and I when He was here.

“And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” or the stake. Christ made Himself of no reputation. We think about, He had the ability to make Himself so invisible He could walk through a crowd and not be noticed. He lowered Himself. He lowered Himself when He washed the disciples’ feet.

James chapter four. James four and verse ten. James four and verse ten, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.” That’s an equation there. That’s the many equations in the Bible. And if you do this, this is what will happen. And that word humble can mean depress, abase, bring low, or humble yourself. So humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.

Matthew chapter twenty-three, turn back to Matthew twenty-three. Matthew twenty-three, and begin reading in verse eleven. Matthew twenty-three, verse eleven, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” So once again, that, that equation.

So if you are willing to humble yourself now, later on, there’ll be a reward waiting for you. At this point, you should ask yourself, how am I doing in my self-examination? How am I doing leading up to these days? Am I progressing in that trait? Am I becoming more humble? Is that something that’s on my mind? Now, as we’re here at Sabbath services, we have an opportunity to help. We have an opportunity to serve.

Is that on your mind? That opportunity to stay low, not thump your chest like Tarzan or something like that, but serve your fellow brethren. True humility, this is a definition here of sorts, true humility involves sacrificing our own wants and desires for the benefit of others. It’s for the brethren now, but it’s for many more people later on.

You think of the golden rule, do unto others as you would have done to you. That should be an overarching thought in your mind. When you think about humility, when you think about Christ’s humility. The willingness to sacrifice your life for another person. Micah, chapter six. We’ll turn back to the Old Testament. Micah, chapter six, just read one verse there. Micah six and verse eight.

Verse eight, “He has showed me, oh, man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” I’ll reinforce the point, being meek and humble in the world is seen as weakness. You think about musicians, about athletes, about all the people that want to be on the stage, want to be seen.

And if we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, we’re seen as being weak. We’re seen as being the people that are to be ignored and swept under the rug, so to speak. First Peter chapter five, back to the New Testament. First Peter five, read a couple verses there. First Peter five, and we’ll begin in verse number five, “Likewise, you younger submit yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.”

Once again, that equation, if we’re willing to lower ourselves now, we’ll have that opportunity to be leaders in the future. And you think about the foundation of the temple, those flat stones, there’s no gap in between those stones, are there? And if you go to Jerusalem today, you’ll see some foundation stones that are perfectly aligned, perfectly fit together. First Corinthians chapter twelve. Let’s turn over there. First Corinthians twelve, and we’ll begin in verse number twenty-five. Those flat stones.

I’ll just read one verse here. First Corinthians twelve verse twenty-five, “That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.” No schism, no gaps. Those stones should be perfectly fit together, and that should be a goal for us. The second trait, God’s people are patient. Now, this is one I’ve had to work on, this quality, patience, for a long time now, and I’m still working on it. I’m sure many of you are.

It’s called long-suffering, but it’s an essential part of that mindset that we have when we come back year to year, when we go to the Feast in the Fall, when we have the fall Holy Days, and when we come back to the Passover service in the spring again. Those reminders, we need those reminders, don’t we, brethren? But serving with patience, that’s our goal. And that reflects our trust in God’s timing. And that’s an important point as well. Now, you think about Father and Son. They’ve been in the universe. They’ve been here forever.

Now, just that can get those gears rolling, get your mind rolling, and you can’t unwind that. You can start thinking back, but you can’t think back to a beginning. That’s what we’re used to. But they’ve been patient for all that time, through all the different steps once the creation was started, once this earth started turning and once Adam and Eve were here and the ball really started rolling.

Romans chapter twelve. Turn back to Romans twelve, close by. But the Father, God the Father, and the Son are the two most patient beings in the universe, aren’t they? They’re more patient than you or I are. When we’re waiting in line at a grocery store we’re going to be late for work. I have my lunch. There are two people in front of me, and I see the person in front of me writing a check. Oh, no. And then your blood pressure starts, and your impatience starts. The same thing happens when you’re waiting in line at a stoplight.

You know, we have one light that we have to endure here in Wadsworth to get to work here at Headquarters. And occasionally it feels like an eternity, those 25 seconds in between red and green. And it’s just an opportunity to work on patience. But it’s something we should be working on, isn’t it, brethren? Romans chapter twelve and verse twelve, “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.” Patient in tribulation.

We’re patient through the mild tribulation of watching someone write a check, but we also have trials, don’t we? And we need to be patient through all of those. But the nice thing is if you look to your left and you look to your right, you have someone that you can lean on in God’s Church, someone that you can tell that you’re going through something, and you have a ministry that can help you as well, help you through, talking things out and giving you that perspective that God wants you to have. And that’s important.

Colossians chapter three, turn forward a few pages, Colossians three. And you think about one of the greatest servants recorded in the Bible. You think about Noah. You think about his patients. He lived for nine hundred and fifty-ish years, in that realm. And he was building the ark. There’s a little bit of a debate about how long that was, but you could say maybe it was over a hundred years. It was one hundred and twenty years, perhaps. And do you think he was received well? Do you think he was received well when he started building an ark and when he was letting everyone know the reason why he was building an ark?

Do you think there might have been some jeers, some not very friendly joking about this particular individual that was building this boat to save himself and his family. Colossians three and verse twelve, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” It would be long-suffering to be building that ark for over a hundred years and did not hear anything positive about that. But you know God’s plan, and you know he has a plan for mankind that probably doesn’t include all those people that aren’t super excited about you building an ark, potentially to save yourself. And it must’ve been something to endure.

And you think about his kids too, did they always have the best attitude? It’s not necessarily recorded what they were doing, but they were helping. But did the sons always have the best attitude, “Come on, Dad, can’t we just start a farm or something and put a few animals on it?” And he had probably had to put up with that too. But he endured. He was patient through that entire process, and that allowed the earth to repopulate, didn’t it? But nine hundred and fifty years and all the things that you’re going through, and you’re still tied to the sun coming up and the sun going down.

It isn’t like the Father in Christ who aren’t tied to a clock. I have a watch on my wrist. Most of us do, and we’re looking up at the clock on the wall, and we’re... That’s part of it. But the Father and Christ, they don’t have to consider time. A day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day. And I look forward to that. Throwing the watches into a big pile and watch them burn up. Something like that. I don’t know. But it’ll be good not to be tied to that element of time. We all can see the sun coming up, and we can all see it going down. But Noah was patient, wasn’t he?

Second Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy two and verse twenty-four. [silence] Two and verse twenty-four in Second Timothy. “And the servant of the Lord must not strife, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient.” That’s a description of someone who’s a minister. But that applies to all of us, doesn’t it? We should be gentle to all men. That golden rule should be in the back of our head. Apt to teach, answer when someone has that question. But we also should be patient because the knee-jerk reaction is to ask, “What is taking so long?”

What is taking so long for them to pull fourteen cents out of their wallet to pay for something, so I can pay for my stuff? But also, what is taking so long in God’s plan? Why aren’t we in the kingdom yet? And that all boils down to our ability to look at God’s perspective and consider His timing is perfect and maybe ours isn’t the best, and just consider that. But patience is important. Whether this is your first Passover this year, or your fiftieth Passover, you have that perspective of going year to year.

I’ve kept over twenty in my time in God’s Church. And it lends a different perspective, doesn’t it? Every year, every time you take those symbols, there’s something deeper that you can consider. Whether it’s your first, it’s a learning opportunity. You don’t really know. You have people telling you what it’s going to be like, but you don’t really know until you’re there. The third quality that we should be considering is service. God’s people are servants. They want to serve each other. And the first two points that I discussed here are directly related to your ability to serve.

So turn over to Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two. When I first came into the Church, my job was to hold the wall up. So I remember the first time I was in a big group of people, I think it was at the feast, and I immediately found a pillar up against the wall, and I stood next to it and made sure it didn’t fall over. That was my level of service to start. But then eventually you have that observation, one hundred and one, and observation two hundred and two. One hundred and one is seeing things and acknowledging, “Oh, something needs to happen here,” but two hundred and two, that level of observation is seeing something and then doing something about it, either telling someone or jumping in and helping.

So eventually that happens and it’s a process. Philippians chapter two, we’ll begin in verse number three. Philippians two and verse three. “Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind esteem, let each esteem other better than themselves.”

So your want, your need to jump into the mix and help others, that’s tied to they need help. I need to reach out to them and help them. That kind of thinking is important. And when it comes to serving others, it’s vitally important. And we’ll continue, finish that verse. “Look not, every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” So, thinking about the person that’s sitting next to you, and here at services, here at headquarters, we’re picking tables up, we’re putting them down, we’re changing things over. Everyone is wanting to jump in and help and make things happen more efficiently, and help your brother, help your sister during that process.

And it’s something that becomes contagious. God’s people want to be known as servants. Servants in the world, you think about they’re the lowest class of person. They’re the ones that are in the drive-through when you pick up that last cheeseburger before the Days of Unleavened Bread. Not that I would do that. Last night, we did have a... telling ourselves, we did have a pizza in the house, and that was officially the last pizza before the days begin, but God’s people want to be known as servants. God’s people want to help each other. They want to serve.

The greater overarching concept is we want to help everyone. And that just starts with maybe picking up a table or opening the door with someone. And it ties directly back to that patience that we’re building, to that humility that we should be building also, and without those two qualities, you won’t be an effective servant. And serving others is an expression of true godly love. You think about agape love, you see the warmth when brethren are together.

Those hugs, the laughter, many of you potentially would not be in a big group of people, maybe unless it was a high holy day or the Feast of Tabernacles. And you hear that din in the room when everyone is conversing, when everyone is catching up, and they want to serve, they want to help, they want to help each other, but they have that greater goal in mind of helping many more people also.

Galatians chapter five. Galatians five and verse thirteen, “For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only used not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” That’s a goal. That’s something I see every week when I’m here for services, but that love, that’s vitally important, isn’t it? And we’re serving. No need to turn there, but I’ll review Matthew twenty-three eleven again at this point, “But He, that is greatest among you, shall be your servant.” Thinking again of Christ and the sacrifice He made. That’s the example that we should be thinking about when we’re serving others, isn’t it?

It’s humbling to think of how far we’ve come. Now, that’s part of the examining yourself, isn’t it? Thinking back to when you were first called, all those memories come to mind. You think about the night to be much observed, many of those conversations that happened on that evening. Think about, oh, how did you come into God’s Church? And then you tell your story. And sometimes that story changes. And over the years, that story changes because what was important to you when you were first called maybe isn’t as important to you now.

And you look back twenty, thirty, forty years or even one or two, and you think, “Wow, how did I even stay in the Church?” I had a funny moment last week. I had a baptism photo in the pillar back in two thousand and three, and it’s good to be reminded of how far you’ve come. And I may have had an eggplant-colored shirt on and I may have had hair that was a little too short. Now I don’t have much at all on my head. There’s nothing I can do about that, but that just gives you that perspective.

And when you’re thinking back on how far you’ve come and you think about all those moments, all those opportunities you’ve had to serve, that should really bring you to a point where you want to do more. It’s like a domino effect. And this is the time of year when you can really get charged up, isn’t it? About everything, about the prophecy that we’ve been hearing about these years, about our place in the body and our opportunity to interact with others and serve others. That’s a big part of it. Every year, year to year.

Mark chapter ten. Turn back to Mark ten. Mark ten in verse forty-five. Other Mark, not Luke. Mark ten, verse forty-five. “For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.” So Christ sacrificed, He served, He served mankind in a great way, in a greater way that we can probably even are able to fathom even as we do our examination, as we examine what he did, what he went through in order for us to have this opportunity today.

But this is a vitally important point. And I want you to write it down and get your pens out if they’re not out and write down “Serving should happen when it’s needed, not just when it’s convenient.” And you think about convenience versus need. What’s inconvenient? Someone calling you at six-thirty in the morning because they’re in trouble and they need help with something. You’re called on at the last minute to help serve on a team somehow. And the knee-jerk reaction in the world is, “Oh I needed more time to prepare for this. I needed more time to get my mind wrapped around doing this for helping in this way.”

But when it’s inconvenient, that’s when your colors truly show. And you may not feel like doing something, but you feel the urge to do it anyway. The urge initially is not great, but later on you can see the bigger picture. And that’s an important context to think about too, isn’t it?

That big picture that we are going to... once we qualify, once we have that salvation, once we are changed, we’ll have an opportunity to help many more people, to serve many others and help them too because we’re all receiving help. Could be angelic help. Driving to services today, there could have been something that could have happened. A car accident could have happened, but something was diverted at the last minute. And then now you have that opportunity to be here.

Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six and verse ten. Hebrews six and verse ten. “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward His name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.” So God never forgets, does He? He doesn’t forget all the things Christ went through when He was here. He doesn’t forget those little things that you do. Maybe it’s just opening a door for someone or grabbing someone’s bag when they’re walking into services. Those little things.

God doesn’t forget any of those things. He never forgets. He’s like the ultimate elephant. Maybe that’s a bad joke, but my memory is fleeting sometimes. It’s kind of back and forth, and I remember things, and I was like, “Am I supposed to remember something?” And I’m very thankful for electronic means of remembering things because I’m terrible at remembering things. And I need these yearly reminders, year to year. But God never forgets, does He? He never forgets the service that we do. First Peter chapter four. First Peter four and verse ten. First Peter four and verse ten.

“As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” So we all, once you’ve been baptized, even before baptism, the Holy Spirit is working with you, maybe not in you as directly, but when we minister one to another, when we’re serving each other, that builds us up. That builds that Holy Spirit, doesn’t it? And it grows it. And then consider that we’re stewards of that Holy Spirit, aren’t we? We have to exercise it. We have to nurture it. It’s like a muscle. If you don’t exercise it, if you don’t work it out, it doesn’t work. It’s withered away.

It’s like doing something you haven’t done in a long time, and you realize, oh, that uses different muscles than I’m used to. And then the next three days are endurance for you. Every time you stand up out of a chair or take those first couple steps, you’re reminded that that muscle wasn’t worked that often. Romans chapter twelve. Romans twelve and verse one. Romans twelve and verse one, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

You think about that baseline. That’s your reasonable service. How far above and beyond that we go is up to us, isn’t it? But we have to do that baseline. And then, as we go year to year, as we come back for another Passover service as we have an opportunity to serve in a different way, that above and beyond, that maybe the baseline is a little higher after a few years, isn’t it? And we focus on the needs of others. That’s vitally important. And that, when we do that, it unifies and strengthens the whole body, the body of Christ. So as we get closer to Passover, as we get closer to the Days of Unleavened Bread, take the time to evaluate where you are today.

I know you are. You’re examining yourself. You’re looking for those crumbs, for those crackers that are hidden in the back of the cabinet, or the dinner rolls that are buried at the bottom of the chest freezer. And remember those lessons that I talked about today, those lessons from the foot washing. You’re not only preparing to wash someone else’s feet, you’re preparing to have your feet washed too, aren’t you? And don’t forget this vital point it’s incredibly important. Psalm chapter fifty-one. I have a couple more verses here to cover. Psalm fifty-one and verse ten.

Psalm fifty-one and verse ten. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” And you could say clean feet, too, but as we’re leading into the Passover service, but we get that clean slate, don’t we, every year? We get that. We can move forward with a mind that we’ve self-examined and we’ve looked for all those crumbs in our lives. And when you’re serving each other during these days, leading up to these days, reflect on Christ’s humility in your life. It’s important to think about what He did, the sacrifice He made, and it will help you.

For a final verse, turn to John chapter thirteen one final time. John thirteen and verse seventeen. We’ll read this verse, which is traditionally read right before the foot washing. John thirteen and verse seventeen, “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” So, you know that you need to strive to grow in humility, to strive to grow in patience, and then also, because of overarching, that you need to strive to grow in your level of service to your fellow brethren.