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Obedience. The word conjures up images and thought of behavior and performance for many people. Legalistic pastors and leaders often teach on obedience in an effort to spur people on in their works – trying to make people fall in line and follow rules and regulations; leading many people into guilt, despair, confusion and fear when they fail… wondering how they could ever measure up, “be good enough” or be accepted and approved-of by God.
New Covenant obedience as defined in the scriptures, however, shows us a different kind of obedience. One not founded on the works or self-effort of man, but one based on the perfect work of Jesus Christ. This kind of obedience is backwards to man’s idea, and the thinking of the world. The world says that we must perform to become… we must perform properly to become accepted. However the scriptures tell us that in the New Covenant, we believe that through Christ, we have become accepted already, and we perform because we are New Creations through the Spirit. In reality, our belief is our obedience. We are obedient to the truth. And this is what we will be studying today.
I want you to see the truth of what the scriptures say, both about Jesus and about you as well. Because, I’ve said it before, the entire point of the Bible being written is to unveil Jesus to you. To unveil Him and His finished work,; and to not rushed passed that word finished. You see the work that Jesus came to do is finished. Although many people today are still acting as though it is not finished yet. Many people are still suffering and striving to persevere the enemy and evil, as though the battle is their own – even though the scriptures say plainly in Colossians 2:15 that Jesus already spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them. Many people are still behaving as though the work is not finished; as though they are still the old creation instead of the new creation – and this should not be.
I encounter people every single day, in and out of churches, who still think that they are bound by the Law of the Old Covenant, and it’s ordinances and rules; still under the Law of sin and death, instead of the New Covenant, and the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. And they are very dutiful in their church service, and performing all of the necessary Christian duties and traditions, yet on the inside their spirit is still dead, and they are starving spiritually, but too afraid to raise any questions for fear of the backlash from their Christian brothers and sisters around them.
I hope that you don’t mind me being bold today and speaking honestly and openly about this, but I have seen so many precious people caught in the trap of religiosity, and it needs to stop before anyone else is dragged down and destroyed by it. You see, God never came to give us religion. Never. He came to give us relationship. He came to give us Himself. He didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people life. He didn’t come because He needs your services – the truth is that you have absolutely nothing to serve Him with! He came to serve you, and He did so completely by offering Himself as both your perfect and eternal High Priest and the Lamb by which your sin has been totally removed!
Now if the idea of Jesus, God of all creation, being your Servant offends you, then you aren’t alone… it offended Peter too! Check out John 13:3-9:
“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
After that he pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
Then comes he to Simon Peter: and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you know not now; but you shall know hereafter.
Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with me.
Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
Notice in verse 3 that we see something about Jesus straight-away. He understood His identity. He knew who He was, where He came from, and where He was going. There was no doubt, no hesitation, no wavering. No corrupted doctrine, theology or opinion was going to shake Him up… He knew. Today Christians, don’t seem to have that same assurance. They aren’t really believing the truth, just kind of floating around aimlessly, being shaken by the slightest wind.
However what we see in verse 3, is exactly, what Jesus knew… He recorded His own personal knowledge for us –why? Because today we are in Him and we have His identity and position. So what He recorded for us here about Himself, is today our reality (Ephesians 1:19-2:6).
So what did Jesus know? That the Father had given all things into His hands. And that He came from God and went to God. In short again, Jesus knew His identity. And these very same things are now true for us. Don’t shy away from that – don’t recoil from this truth. In Christ, you have the authority of Jesus, delegated to you. You have the right to come to the Father in the Name of Jesus, and you also have the authority to use the Name of Jesus. You can heal the sick, you can cast out devils. You can do all the miracles and works of Jesus… precisely because He gave you His Name and authority. You are of God (1st John 4:4) and you are going to God (John 14:1-3).
And Jesus with full knowledge of His identity, and His divine royal position and status, begins to wash the feet of the disciples as a servant. Notice… this knowledge of His identity, didn’t puff Him up with pride. If anyone had a real right to boast in Himself here, it was Jesus! But He didn’t boast, He served. And again, the idea of God being a servant to us, offends the sensibilities of some, who like Peter, say Lord, you will never wash my feet! We think that we should be serving God – not Him serving us.
However, you must open your eyes to see that even the very idea of us serving God is worldly wisdom, and it is the very height of hubris and pride. You are not only totally empty in yourself , but you are spiritually dead apart from the service of Christ Jesus! You need Him to serve you, or you have no hope!
Do you understand? He placed Himself in the role of the eternal servant… and He did it because He loves you that much! I’m not taking away from His kingship or His Lordship here… what I am doing is dusting-off the third role of Jesus that our human pride doesn’t like to talk about – the fact that we need Him to serve us because we have no capacity to serve Him. This was Peter’s stumbling-block. If you examine the life of Peter before receiving the Spirit, Peter was always boasting in himself and his own ability. He was the one who boasted in his own fishing expertise in Luke 5. He wanted to build three temples, one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah in Matthew 17. He again boasted in his own ability to forgive in Matthew 18. And he boasted in his own faithfulness in Matthew 26, saying that even if all the other disciples fall away, he never would (we know how that turned out).
And before we snicker too much at Peter, many of us are taking the exact same attitude today. Trusting in ourselves and our own abilities and performance. Wrapping the worlds way in a cloak of Jesus and calling it the gospel. When the reality is that the real Gospel is none of ourselves and all of Christ.
So we see Peter here refusing to let Jesus wash his feet in the first-half of verse 8… and again we see the same attitude of self-righteousness, false-humility and pride today; “how dare you say Jesus serves you! You need to serve Him!”
However look at Jesus’ response to Peter in the second-half of the verse, and realize that His response is the same today: If I don’t wash you, then you have no part with me.
Peter obviously understood, because in verse 9 he changed his thinking, albeit still overzealous.
This is the truth of the Gospel, and the truth which makes you free… free from yourself, free from your striving, free from the Law of sin and death. First, that you need Christ to clean you. You need Him to wash you. You can’t clean yourself up, you can’t wash your own feet or impress Him or earn any favor or reward. You don’t have that capacity within yourself. You need Jesus.
And second, once He washes you, you’re washed. Once He cleans you, you are indeed clean. And this is the other area of stumbling for most people when it comes to obeying the Gospel; when it comes to believing the truth.
People don’t believe that they are really clean. They really don’t honestly believe that Jesus finished the work… or they think that they can somehow undo what He did on the cross, as if their sin is more powerful than Jesus’ divine blood spilled for them. Turn to Romans 6:11:
“Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You see, this is the life of faith in the Gospel, this is your obedience to the truth. To actually believe that what Christ accomplished for you is true. When Jesus died, your old self died with Him and you are raised a completely new creation in Christ. However many people are still stuck at the first part, reckoning themselves dead to sin. This isn’t about works here – the Greek word for sin here is hamartia, the noun form of the word. This is talking about recognizing that the place of sin you were in before Christ is no longer where you are now. The person of sin who you were before is not who you are today.
Jesus moved your position from death to life, from sinner to saint, from cursing to blessing and He recreated you by His Spirit and you are alive today in Him and life you live you live through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20) Come on, this is the Gospel!
And living through Jesus, we do not live under condemnation, guilt, shame and being tossed around by circumstances and experiences – wondering how God could love you because of what you just did this morning! Come on! He knew that before you did it. Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), if His sacrifice only covers sins from the past then His sacrifice didn’t accomplish anything – however the good news is that under the new covenant, God not only forgives your sin righteously through Christ, but He also totally doesn’t remember them! (Hebrews 8:12)
I wonder what would happen if we actually started believing that this Gospel was true and began living through it every day. Look at Romans 12:2:
“And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Being conformed to this world, is living by the world’s way; buying into the worldly carnal mindset and the ideas and traditions of men, which we have studied previously.
Notice how we are transformed… by the renewing of our mind. You see, it’s not works, it’s not striving, it’s not man’s efforts, commandments or trying harder. It’s allowing the truth of the Gospel to change you, by changing your mindset and your identity. This is true repentance; and this is what transforms you.
I encourage you today. Be obedient… the New Covenant way. Be obedient to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You are a new creation. You are not a slave to the Law of sin and death any longer. You are a slave to the perfect righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He has cleaned you, and washed you and you are therefore perfectly clean and absolutely washed.
Now live in that place every day… this honors Jesus, because it honors His finished work.