Take up the Towel

To all in our Goshen family:  Based on last week’s passage from John 13 and Jesus’ charge to “take up the towel,” let’s commit to serve one another with self-giving, preference-dropping, Jesus-imitating love.

When he had washed their feet…, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15).

Not only does Jesus’ self-giving love provide us with salvation (and that, of course, we cannot imitate; only Jesus can cleanse us from our sin and give us eternal life—see, e.g., John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:35, 40; 8:12; 10:10-11; 11:25; 13:8), but in his humble service he also models something we must imitate, namely servant-hearted love.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).

Did you notice that expression, “just as,” in vv 15 and 34?  Jesus commands us to follow his radical example of loving service.

Let’s make this practical:  If you’re a Sunday school teacher here at Goshen, or youth group leader, or usher, or greeter, or worship team member, or Bible Study leader, or deacon/deaconess, or elder, or a staff member, this is the banner over the top of your job description:  “Love the people just as Jesus loved them.”  Lay down your pride, release your grip on your time and energy, step out of your comfort zone, and “take up the towel”!  Among other things, this means being on the lookout for ways to love others right past those pesky social barriers of race, ethnicity, age, class, status, politics, etc.

That’s our duty.  And yet, when it comes to duty, always remember 1 John 4:19:  We love because he first loved us. God’s love comes first.  All of the good deeds we’re taught to practice are the grateful overflow of Jesus’ love we’ve already received.  Already!  We don’t grit our teeth and do our duty some­how to secure God’s favor.  His favor is a gift; salvation is by grace alone (Rom 3:24; 5:15-17; 6:23; Eph 2:1-10, etc.).