I would like to consider two different occasions in the ministry of Jesus that I believe can help to explain each other. Let’s go to John 13:1-17 first. This is immediately before the last Passover that Jesus participated in while on earth. He gets up and girds Himself with a towel after laying aside His garments. He pours water into a basin and begins to wash the feet of the disciples.
When Jesus gets to Peter, he is perplexed as to why Jesus would do this. Jesus answers Peter somewhat mysteriously by saying, “What I do you do not realize, but you will understand hereafter.” Did Peter realize that Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples? Of course he did. Jesus told him that he would only understand the true meaning later. What was it that Peter and the others did not understand? What was Jesus showing them? Let’s go on for now.
Peter wants nothing to do with the idea—the idea of Jesus washing his feet, that is. Jesus informs Peter that if he doesn’t let Him wash his feet, he has no part with Jesus! Peter replies instantly, “Then wash every part of me—my hands, my feet and my head!” Peter’s enthusiastic response is still wrong because when he tells Jesus to go for it, Jesus informs him, “You’ve already bathed Peter, and you’re completely clean. You only need your feet washed.” Now remember, Peter understood perfectly that Jesus was washing his feet, but he didn’t understand the point that Jesus was teaching while He was doing it. So we know that whatever Jesus meant by bathing and cleansing was not simply a literal bath nor was it physical cleanliness.
Jesus does give us a clue with His reply though. He states that not everyone there has taken a bath. The text explains to us that Jesus was referring to Judas when He said this. Everyone but Judas had taken a bath. Hmmm…
Okay, so far we know that Jesus was literally washing the disciples’ feet, but He wasn’t just washing their feet. Whatever else it was that He was showing them, they didn’t understand right then, but would later. We also know He was not referring to a literal bath and we can reason that the bath and cleanness implies salvation since Judas was the only one who wasn’t clean. He was the only one who would not meet with the others in Heaven one day.
Now Jesus finishes washing their feet (which wasn’t what He was really doing) and instructs them. He asked them if they understood what He had just done. Because their reply is not recorded for us, I have to wonder if there was no reply, instead each pair of eyes looking at another waiting for someone to speak up. Since Peter had misunderstood so far, he kept his mouth closed.
Jesus answers for them and tells them they should wash each other’s feet, the reason being that if Jesus, Lord and Teacher, washed their feet, they surely must wash each other’s feet. And yet, He still couldn’t be talking about literal feet washing. What was it that they were supposed to do for one another—and do it humbly?
Let’s leave the passage in John for a moment and go to another passage that leaves us with another dilemma. Read Matthew 7:1-5. Jesus is teaching them from the mountain. He states emphatically, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” Then He tells them why—they will be judged by their own standard.
But then, in seeming contradiction, He teaches them that they are to take specks out of each other’s eyes. That would require a certain amount of discernment at least, if not actual judgment. He does clarify that they are to take the logs out of their own eyes first so they won’t make a mess of things working on a brother’s eye.
Notice the injunction in verse five. It is not an option whether or not we take a speck out of a brother’s eye—we are commanded to do it! So many people read this passage with selective eyesight and come up with the conclusion that we are NOT to take the speck out of our brother’s eye BECAUSE we have a log in our own. The typical cliché is “I’m not perfect so I wouldn’t think of criticizing someone else!” But perhaps the honest truth is, “I don’t have to exhort another believer because I have sin in my life that I have not taken care of!” Sadly, the log is left in the eye and the sin is left in the life. Jesus says to take the log out of your eye so you can see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye! In obeying a false cliché, people are actually disobeying a direct command of the Lord Jesus Christ!
“Don’t Judge” has become the watchword of the modern day church. How wrong that is! The watchword of the church needs to be the same as it has always been—“REPENT!”
Now you are probably wondering, Jesus said specifically not to judge in verse one so how can that be? In verse one Jesus is referring to judging as in the case of a state fair giving out ribbons to the good, better and best of the exhibits. Our job is not to judge how good of a Christian someone is. We are not to line Christians up in our minds from left to right, bad to good, of course putting ourselves somewhere near the extreme right! But we are to exhort each believer to excel still more. You may not agree with me so far, but let’s look at one more passage before we leave this subject.
Go to 1 Corinthians 5. I think it may clear up both the John and the Matthew passages and even link them together for us. Paul, the author, is addressing a problem in the Corinthian church. Someone has had an immoral relationship with his father’s wife and news has reached Paul! He is angry, but look who he is angry with! It’s not with the man in sin, but rather, he is angry with the other believers in the church!
He tells them why—they have become arrogant and have not mourned and put the man who had done this deed out of the church. They are arrogant instead of humble because they don’t deal with sin in the church. Paul then tells them to get this man out of the church and right away!
He tells them why—a little leaven will leaven the whole batch of dough. Leaven represents an individual in the church who has unrepented sin in his life, and the dough represents the whole of the church. If they don’t get him out of their midst, then they too, will begin to sin as he has.
Plus when someone looks at this man and understands that he calls himself a Christian they will get a distorted picture of what the body of Christ, the Church, really is. The Church is to be holy just as God is holy. After all, the church hasn’t kicked him out, so why would anyone peeking in think anything different. In other words, allowing sin to remain in the church presents the whole church as unholy. The church is to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, Who is the exact representation and nature of God, the Father. Remember why God created man—it was to bring Him Glory—to show to the world Who He really is. When the church looks like it is sinful, when it looks like the world, it cannot bring Him any Glory!
Paul tells them that Christ is their Passover. They are to celebrate that Feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, not with old leaven (pre-salvation behavior) or the leaven of malice and wickedness (they are not to be cruel to this man) just lovingly and forcefully separate this man from the church.
In case they, or anyone else reading his letter, are still unsure as to what they are to do, he repeats a teaching he has given them before, but tries to clarify it. He says that he has previously instructed them to not even associate with immoral people. But he never meant unbelievers—why they would have to get on a spaceship and travel to another planet to get away from all unbelievers! What he previously told them was they were not to even associate with anyone who was immoral, covetous, an idolater, a reviler, drunkard or swindler (or any such a one) if he called himself a believer!
In other words, there is a whole different set of rules governing our relationship and behavior toward unbelievers than with believers! How should believers behave toward unbelievers? Well it’s not a believer’s place to correct an unbeliever’s behavior. It’s a believer’s place to give an unbeliever the gospel! The Holy Spirit will do the sanctifying! It’s God’s place to judge those outside the church. But we are to judge those within the church! Read verse twelve. Paul says that it’s not his place to judge those outside the church, but it is the place of Christians to judge those who are within the church!!! Can you see why? God’s reputation, His Glory, is important to Him! Those in the church are the face of God to the world. He demands that we give the world a true picture of Who He is. We are to bring Him Glory!
His final exhortation is a command from the book of Deuteronomy that is given three times. Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12 It says God’s people are to purge the evil person from among themselves. We are still expected to obey that command!
Do you see the connection to the John passage? Jesus was teaching them to humble themselves enough to go to another believer and help them get the dirt from everyday life off of them. Remember it wasn’t physical dirt that Jesus was referring to. And it wasn’t a whole bath, just a foot wash. It probably will make more sense to us if we think of the culture at that time and how often they went barefoot. Even when they wore sandals, their feet were exposed to the dust of Israel. (I can personally attest to how dirty your feet get while walking the land of Israel!) The dirt from each day would be washed from their feet regularly. That’s what we are supposed to do for one another. We shouldn’t let a Christian walk around with dirt on his feet—with sin in his life. We are to humble ourselves enough to take the specks out of one another’s eyes, to wash his feet for him!
Can you think of why humility is required to do this? The person with the speck in his eye or the dirt on her feet will more likely receive the one trying to help them if he is humble instead of arrogant. When is the last time someone came to you to point out sin in your life? Have you ever received a phone call from someone asking you to meet with them because they ‘needed to talk to you’? If you are like me, my heart would skip a beat and I would wonder what I was in trouble for! Having a humble friend lovingly confront me would be the easiest way to bear the correction.
And yet, it is more than that. We need to be humble enough to risk the rejection of that so-called brother or sister. Think about it—when is the last time you went to someone to point out sin in his life? What would have kept you from doing it? The fear of man! The fear of losing a relationship or, worse yet, the fear of gaining a reputation! We are required to humble ourselves enough to be willing to do the unthinkable in the modern day church—to confront another believer who is in sin! It’s true that I may lose the respect of those around me if they believe I am ‘judging’ when they believe no one is supposed to ‘judge’. But what is to be gained is of immeasurable value—protecting the reputation of Jehovah, the Glory of the Only True God, and being personally pleasing to Him through our obedience!
The true watchword of the church is still “REPENT!” The question is, how often do we say it to one another?
Adapted from "HIStory—From Event To Event The Bible Is One Story"
