This set of sermon notes covers the main points of the sermon, Unveiling Jesus’ Heart To Serve You, preached by Pastor Prince on Sunday, 16 April 2023. We encourage you to listen to the full sermon to find out more, and receive God’s Word in season for yourself!
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The Christian religion is not about our behavior but about our relationship with God. Some people think Christianity is about following a set of rules and practices for a God who is demanding and fault-finding. But that is far from the truth!
More than our performance or how well we can serve Him, God cares about our relationship with Him. He desires to pour His unconditional and extravagant love into our lives. He’s not after what we can do—He’s after our hearts (Prov. 23:26)! And it is when our hearts are devoted and occupied with Christ that we will, from the abundance of our hearts, serve Him and others.
The fullness of God’s love for us was demonstrated at the cross when He sent His beloved Son to die for us. And today, when God looks at us, He does not see our faults. Instead, He sees us righteous because of Jesus’ finished work at the cross (2 Cor. 5:21)!
So you don’t need to “have it all together” before you approach God. You can go before your heavenly Father and freely receive His love for you just as you are!
We are often quick to point out what’s wrong with the people around us or complain about a situation we are in instead of giving thanks for the good in our lives. While we may have the natural tendency to complain and find fault in others, our Lord Jesus is quick to spot what’s beautiful.
Oftentimes, a complaining spirit is a result of our preoccupation with the cares and worries in our lives. Not only do we find ourselves unhappy and depressed, but we may even start to blame the people around us for the situation we are in. We see this exemplified in the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38–42).
When the Lord Jesus made a visit to their house, Martha was preoccupied with serving the Lord and busied herself with all the preparations that needed to be done. Mary, on the other hand, chose to sit at the Lord’s feet to listen to Him. This left Martha really upset, so much so that she even blamed Jesus for not caring about her in the situation! Like Martha, we end up blaming the people around us (and sometimes even the Lord Himself) when we forget to see Him and His heart to serve us in the midst of the many things we are trying to do on our own.
When Martha complained to Jesus, this was what He said:
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
To the Lord, the only necessary thing for us to do is to sit at His feet and receive from Him! Instead of being troubled about many things, the Lord wants us to put aside the things burdening our hearts and take time each day to be in His presence and receive His love.
Doing the one thing needful is what will lead to us having a spirit of thanksgiving. Even if things in our lives are not going well, we can still be thankful for the Lord’s goodness in our lives. We need the Lord and His grace to see the good in our lives. This is why it’s so important for us to have a deep and intimate walk with the Lord.
The more we are conscious of His goodness in our lives, the more we will be people with thankful hearts instead of a complaining spirit. And the more we are thankful, the more we will see God’s goodness and faithfulness, and the more we will experience His joy and love in our lives.
There might be some naysayers who will argue that we can’t only focus on receiving from the Lord and that it’s also important for us to serve Him. While serving is good, the Lord desires for us to first sit at His feet and receive from Him just like Mary did. Serving comes out of the overflow of having first received from Him! More than what we can do for the Lord, He wants us to first know His heart towards us—He is not out to find fault with us, He loves us, and His desire is for us to keep receiving from Him!
Exodus 21 talks about a law concerning Hebrew servants:
“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”
— Exodus 21:1–6 NKJV
The servant in this law is a picture of our Lord Jesus, who took the position of a servant for us. In this law, we see how the servant could choose whether he wanted to go free or stay to serve his master after six years. If he chose to stay, his master would pierce his ear with an awl. This is a picture of our Lord Jesus being nailed to the cross.
And just like the servant in this law, our Lord Jesus had a choice. When our Lord Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He had a choice—to sacrifice Himself for us at the cross or to return to His Father in heaven (Luke 22:42). But He chose to lay down His life for us because He loved His master (God) and His wife and children (us).
Even though He is now risen and at the right hand of the Father, our Lord Jesus remains our Servant forever. Today, His heart is to serve us.
We can see the Lord’s heart to serve us in the sermon He preached to His disciples in the upper room:
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe (‘ekmasso’) them with the towel (‘lention’–linen cloth) with which He was girded.”
—John 13:3–5 NKJV
Even though our Lord Jesus had been given everything by the Father, He chose to lay aside His majesty to serve His disciples. Today, He wants to serve us and wash our feet too.
So what does it mean for the Lord to wash our feet?
Some might read John 13:8 and think that it refers to us being born again. But let’s look at what the verse says: “Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Notice how the Lord said that Peter would have no part “with” Him and not “in” Him? This tells us that the washing of our feet does not refer to our salvation, but it refers to our walk with the Lord and enjoying communion with Him.
In John 13:10, the Lord told Peter: “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean . . .” And Revelations 1:5 tells us that our Lord Jesus has bathed us from our sins with His blood. This means that we are already clean. Instead, the washing of our feet here refers to us being washed by the water of God’s Word.
What does it mean to be washed by the water of God’s Word and why is it important?
1. We become less susceptible to the attacks of the enemy
Let’s take a look at Genesis 3:14:
“So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.”
After the devil tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God, God prophesied that the enemy would eat dust all the days of its life. And we, men, are made from the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7). In other words, we are “food” for the enemy, who will always try to attack and defile us with negative thoughts and emotions.
Now look at what the Bible says in these verses:
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe (‘ekmasso’) them with the towel (‘lention’–linen cloth) with which He was girded.”
—John 13:3–5 NKJV
The Greek word for “wipe” is “ekmasso,” which means “away from (being) devoured.” This means that when we allow the Lord to wash the dust off our feet with the water of His Word, we prevent ourselves from being “devoured” by the enemy—we become less susceptible to the enemy’s attacks!
2. It keeps us conscious of our righteousness in Christ
In John 13:3–5, we see that after the Lord washed His disciples feet, He used a towel to wipe their feet dry. The Greek translation for the word “towel” is “lention,” which refers to a “linen cloth.” A linen cloth is a picture of our righteousness (Rev. 19:8). This means that after we spend time in the Lord’s presence, we walk away with a consciousness of our righteousness in Him.
Whether it’s a bad habit, negative emotions, or unclean thoughts that we are struggling with, when we allow the Lord to wash us with the water of His Word, we allow Him to remind us of our unshakable right standing before God. We allow Him to help us see that we are still justified and forgiven, and this washes away all self-condemnation we may feel. And when we are established in righteousness, we have the power to break free from sinful habits and the things bogging us down, and start walking in victory!
This is why it’s so important for us to take time to be in the Lord’s presence and to meditate and muse on the Word. The Lord can wash us with the water of the Word through the preached Word (when we listen to sermons) or speak to us personally. But most of the time, He will point us back to the Bible. When we spend time with the Lord in His Word, we allow ourselves to receive His love for us and enjoy communion with Him!
Many times, we might feel like we need to “do quiet time,” to complete a set of devotions, or to complete a set of Bible readings. But quiet time isn’t about us completing these tasks out of obligation; it is a time we intentionally set aside to receive the Lord’s love and listen to what He wants to speak to us about.
In our society today, there are many things that are distracting and robbing us of the time and space to be in God’s presence. We are so busy serving ourselves and the people around us that we forget to take time to let the Lord serve us. It’s so easy for us to be drawn in every direction but the Lord wants us to come into His presence and have an intimate relationship with Him. And when we allow the Lord to wash our feet, we become so full of His love that we too, can wash the feet of those around us, e.g. encouraging our children and sanctifying our spouses with the water of the Word (Eph. 5:25–27)!
In this sermon, Pastor Prince shared about Jesus’ heart to wash our feet, which is a picture of Him serving us.
But take a moment to think about it . . . would you really let the Lord wash your feet? Your feet, which are probably the dirtiest parts of your body that you wouldn’t want your friends or loved ones to touch? No wonder when Jesus tried to wash Peter’s feet, Peter responded:
I’m sure many of us would react the same way Peter did. But what if I told you that the reason Jesus deliberately used the washing of feet to talk about serving us is precisely because He wants us to know that He’s not put off by the dirtiest parts of us? The parts of us we’re ashamed of. The parts that have made mistakes or fallen back into bad habits.
Instead, the Lord Jesus wants us to come to Him—yes, even with all of our shortcomings—and allow Him to serve us anyway. Allow Him to love on us, provide for our needs, and most importantly, re-establish us in His righteousness so that we can get up and walk in victory again.
But here’s the thing. Jesus can only do as much as you allow Him to.
So this week, can I encourage you to come to Him with your weaknesses and experiences you may be ashamed of? As you spend time with Him in His Word, He will wash all the dirt off your feet with His love and grace ❤️
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2023
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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