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Post by Obadiah on Jul 6, 2023 10:38:06 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 4TH
When You Don't Need A Bath!
Jesus answered A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.
John 13:10a
Jesus had said earlier, What I do now you don't understand. In asking for a bath, Peter proved that he didn't understand what was happening. So Jesus corrects him again. And in those words He gives us a beautiful explanation of the process of salvation. It begins with a bath. That initial coming to Christ, in which we take the place of bankruptcy before Him, coming without any vestige of our own righteousness to offer and allowing Him to cleanse us, is likened to a bath in which we are washed all over, completely, from head to foot. Jesus, of course, is alluding to a very common social practice in those days. It was the custom to take a bath before you went out to a meal. But in walking through the dirty streets of the city with sandals on, your feet would be defiled. And so when you arrived as a guest, a servant would wash your feet. But you would not need to repeat the bath.
So Jesus is saying, When you first come to me, you are bathed; you are clean all over. This is what the Bible calls justification by faith. It is a washing away of all the guilt and sin of the entire life--past, present, and future. But as you walk through life, Jesus knows your feet will be defiled during your walk, and that needs to be washed away. Thus He teaches us that not only do we need that initial, never-to-be-repeated cleansing, but we also need the many-times-repeated experience of forgiveness, of coming to Christ for the cleansing away of the defilement of our walk. This determines that we have a part with Him.
In other words, the enjoyment of our relationship with Christ is lost when we are temporarily defiled by wrongdoing in our life. We lose the enjoyment of our relationship with Him. His attitude toward us doesn't change, but our attitude toward Him does. That is why we are taught all through the Scriptures to confess our sins (1 John 1:9). And the moment we do so, that original cleansing is renewed to us, and we go on again, restored.
Peter's error is being repeated today. There are those who refuse to have Jesus wash their feet. They are rejecting the indispensable requisite for enjoying their relationship with Christ. When people refuse to let Jesus wash their feet, they lose that sense of partnership with Him. On the other hand, there are those who feel that they need a bath all over again when they sin, that they have lost their salvation and that somehow they have to start over in their Christian experience. But Jesus teaches us by this whole process we need only one bath. This is reflected in the truth of baptism. You are baptized once, as the initial act. But the Lord's Supper reflects the washing of the feet, the need for cleansing from sin throughout life.
Thank You, Father, that You have washed away all my sin and guilt, and I now stand righteous in Your sight. Teach me to come to You each day, confessing my sin, allowing You to restore me to that close fellowship with You for which I was made.
Life Application
What is behind feeling detached from a loving God? When we feel out of relationship with Jesus Christ, what can we choose to do?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jul 6, 2023 10:39:35 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 5TH
Washing Feet
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
John 13:14
What does Jesus mean when He says that we ought to wash one another's feet? Some Christians have taken this very literally and have thought that our Lord was here instituting another sacrament.
Jesus is not giving us another sacrament to follow here. But what He means is that just as we need the cleansing and forgiveness of our Lord to maintain the sense of unity and refreshment of spirit in our Christian life, so we need to extend to one another free forgiveness for guilt and for the injury that we may do to one another. We are to be, in the words of Paul, kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32).
He knows that it is difficult sometimes to forgive, that the flesh within cries out for revenge. And often we love the feeling of carrying a grudge or of resisting the overtures of other people. But Jesus says that when we are doing that, we are doing what He would not do. We are demanding our rights. And we are forgetting that our Lord and Master humbled Himself, though He was rightfully the Lord of glory, the one with every right to claim the worship of people. Nevertheless, He laid it all aside. He washed the feet of His own disciples.
No Christian has any right to sit in self-righteous judgment upon another. We may bring others under the searching light of the Word of God. We may, out of concern and compassion for their welfare, expose to them what they are doing. But in no sense are we to do so with self-righteousness, with the suggestion that we would never do a thing like that. Our Lord insists that we wash one another's feet in love.
Dr. H. A. Ironside pointed out how wise it is to be concerned about the temperature of the water when we wash one another's feet. An angry person will be so distracted by what has happened that he or she will use boiling water, but people don't want their feet washed in boiling water. Some come with a holier-than-thou attitude and attempt to use freezing-cold water to wash another's feet. No one will allow it under those conditions. Others attempt to wash people's feet with no water at all. They tear into another, attempting to scrape away the dirt, and the skin along with it. What they say may be true, but it is offered up with no love at all. But our Lord insists that we wash one another's feet in love.
Help me, Lord, to so love my brothers and sisters in Christ that I am willing to wash their feet and am willing to allow them to wash mine. May I do so in tenderness and warmth, knowing how gentle You are with me.
Life Application
Which is stronger - our sense of forgiveness, or our desire for revenge? What does Jesus mean when He says that we ought to wash one another's feet?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jul 6, 2023 10:40:51 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 6TH
No Other Way
But this is to fulfill the scripture: He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me. I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. I tell you the truth, ... whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.
John 13:18b-20
The contrast here is between the knowledge of Jesus and the ignorant unbelief of Judas. Jesus knew from the Scriptures that one among those close to Him would betray Him, and He knew from the beginning which one it would be. But Judas didn't know that. Judas was ignorantly following the greed of his own heart, and he was resisting every effort Jesus made to reach him. Now he was on the verge of that final act of rejection that would plunge him over the precipice into utter and complete disaster.
In the next paragraph you see that described--how he took the sop from Jesus' hand, and that was the final chance he had. When he did, Satan entered into him, and Judas was no longer his own master. But Jesus indicates that He understands what will happen. He says, I'm telling you this before it happens, so when it does, you will know I am the one this Scripture describes. Judas, on the other hand, didn't know what was happening to him or how he had fallen into Satan's snare and now was at the brink of disaster. You can see how these two stand opposed one to another. Jesus sacrificed Himself in order to save His disciples; Judas sacrificed Jesus in order to save himself. Those two philosophies dominate the world today.
In this final appeal. Jesus is directing a word to the holders of these two basic attitudes, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives any one whom I send receives me. That is a word to us, that when someone comes to wash our feet, to help us with some problem of sin in our life, we are to remember that this person is sent by Jesus. Therefore, it is He who is offering to wash our feet. And we are not to resent this ministry from others. But we are to remember what Jesus says, He who receives any one whom I send, receives me.
The last word was addressed to Judas: And he who receives me receives him who sent me. That is, he receives God the Father. And there is no other way to the Father but by Jesus. This is the truth Jesus declares again and again, and it is the great truth that Judas sought to circumvent. He tried to live his life before God without relating at all to the ministry and the salvation offered by Jesus. He is stumbling blindly on, not realizing that he is facing the most important crisis of his life, and only Jesus can bring him to God. This was Jesus' last-ditch stand to reach Judas before it was too late, and Judas refuses Him, as subsequent events will show. But the great truth Jesus leaves before us is this: There is no other way.
Lord, in Your unfailing way You reached out to Judas, showing him that You are the only way. Help me to receive both You and the ones You send to me, reaching out to restore me to fellowship with You.
Life Application
How do we receive Godly people who lovingly confront us with problems of sin in our life? Does our focus shift to judging them, our rightness, or the Lord's words?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries
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Post by Obadiah on Jul 7, 2023 4:06:22 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 7TH
The Point Of No Return
As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
John 13:30
The chapter began with satanic influence on Judas. In verse 2 John says, The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus (John 13:2). Here you see that Judas's greed has given the devil an opportunity. When we resist God's love and follow a determined march toward evil, it gives the devil opportunity. And he had the opportunity to implant thoughts in Judas's heart that would take deep root immediately. So he had already put it into Judas's heart to betray Jesus; the deal had been arranged. When Jesus gave him the morsel and Judas took it and ate it without a word or a sign of repentance or remorse, he passed the point of no return.
Pilots tell us that as they fly over the ocean they reach a point where it is just as far to return as it is to go on to the other side. This is the point of no return. This is one of the most tragic scenes in all of history--to see Judas, while he is still alive, deliberately reject truth to the extent that he goes beyond any hope of recovery. At this point Satan entered into him, and this becomes satanic possession. Judas is no longer in control of his own will and can no longer make any decision to resist evil.
This is what we might call Judas's Gethsemane. Right after this event Jesus leaves the upper room and goes with His disciples into the garden. There He withdraws a bit and prays alone. This is His last chance to turn back before the cross. You remember that He prays, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, but He adds, as always, yet not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42). And though He sweated great drops of blood in the agony of that moment, at the end of it, angels came and strengthened Him. His resolve was unbroken. Similarly, here is Judas at the point of no return. It is his last chance to turn back, but he doesn't take it. And when he makes that decision, Satan comes and strengthens him, so that he cannot turn back.
So Jesus commands him, now that there is no further hope of recovery, What you are going to do, do quickly! And the final word of John is, He went out. And it was night. John very likely is thinking in the same terms as the words he later would write in his first epistle: If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,--if we walk out where our sins, failures, and weaknesses are all there before God and don't try to justify or hide them--the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7). But if we turn from the light, turn our backs on Jesus and walk away, determined to do our own will, we walk into darkness.
Lord, Your light has shone in my dark heart and brought new life and hope. May I never forget that apart from Your grace I, too, would have been at the point of no return.
Life Application
How can resisting God's provision take us to the point of no return? How can accepting God's provision in Christ also take us to a point of no return?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jul 8, 2023 4:51:57 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 8TH
The Secret Of Glory
When he was gone, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
John 13:31-32
Notice the stress on glory in these verses. This is the secret principle by which we achieve glory, which is something we all long for. We all want people to think highly of us. This is what Jesus is talking about. The secret of attaining glory is to give yourself up, to lose yourself. He is looking ahead to the cross. The cross became a certainty the minute Judas left the room, and Jesus says, Now [in view of the cross] is the Son of man glorified . . .
Notice three manifestations of glory stated in this sentence. First, Jesus is glorified in the cross, and in the cross Jesus' inner character becomes visible. John says, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (1:14). All that grace and truth becomes visible in the cross.
Second, God was glorified in Jesus. The cross also reveals the Father. The strange idea has arisen among Christians that Jesus is the innocent sufferer, placating the wrath of an angry God who is ready to smite humanity. But that is not the biblical view. The Bible says, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19). There you see the mercy, love, and grace of the Father.
Third, God will glorify Him again, and will do it immediately. Here Jesus is thinking of His resurrection. Our Lord is declaring a great principle here. How do you achieve glory? How do you achieve the fulfillment you quite properly are wanting? The answer is by dying. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it (Matthew 16:25). And very close behind death is resurrection. Peter puts it precisely in his first epistle: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
We struggle with this. We fight for the top place. We are filled with suspicion and guile toward one another. So how can you lose your life? What is the power that can make you willing to throw it all away? That is why Jesus adds, A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34). That is the power that makes sacrifice possible. The key is in the phrase as I have loved you. That is the secret. Our love must originate from His love for us. We are to draw upon His loving acceptance of us in order to reach out in loving acceptance to others near us, whether they are lovely or not.
Lord, I see the seeming paradox--that glory is found in sacrificial love. Let me abide in Your love so that I am able to surrender my will to You and love others with the love you have given me.
Life Application
What is the secret of glory? How do we achieve the personal fulfillment we are quite properly wanting?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jul 10, 2023 4:59:35 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 10TH
The Cure For Troubled Hearts
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1
As our Lord looked at these men, He knew what was going on in their minds and hearts, how disturbed and upset they were, and what was causing their turmoil. He knew the remedy for their anxieties as well. Perhaps there are many of us who are suffering from the same affliction as these disciples--troubled hearts; fearful hearts; upset, disturbed, and agitated hearts because of our circumstances. Our Lord knew that these men were afraid of what was coming. They were afraid of death, afraid that they, with Him, were going to be executed by the Jews. They knew of the opposition that had developed against them in Jerusalem. They knew they were in danger, and so their hearts were deeply troubled as they gathered here with Him.
But more than that physical danger to themselves, they were aware of Jesus' words about leaving them. This had struck terror into their hearts. They were afraid that even though they might survive, they would have to go on living without Him, and that was unbearable to them. They could bear to die with Him; they could not bear to live or die without Him. So as He gathers with them, He says these words: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Once when I was experiencing a period of this kind of heart trouble myself, I thought of these words, and they came home to me with tremendously new significance. I saw something in that simple phrase Do not let your hearts be troubled that I had never seen before. 'What impressed me were the words Do not let. They mean that these disciples could do something about their problem. They held in their own hands the key to their release from heart trouble. It was possible for them either to let it happen or not to let it happen. Our Lord is saying this to all of us. There is a way out of heart difficulty--this distress and fear concerning both death and life--and our Lord goes on to give the answer to them.
The remedy for heart trouble is contained in the two phrases that follow: Trust in God; trust also in me. Trust in God who is still in control, who knows what He is doing, who is capable of exercising infinite wisdom, infinite power, and infinite love. And trust also in me, Jesus said, who is the means by which all that wisdom and resource and power of God is made available to you. That is the secret.
Father, thank You for this reassurance as I face the unknown. Do not let your hearts be troubled. I will come again. Help me to live on this basis today and to demonstrate the quality of life that He lived.
Life Application
Our hearts can often be troubled because of our circumstances. Can we choose not to have troubled hearts?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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