For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28
This week, we are focusing on our two-minute stories. These are stories about how God has saved and transformed our lives. For some of us, telling our stories may feel scary or inconvenient, but we must remember that telling our stories is not for our purpose, but for the sake of others' salvation. When we remind ourselves of this truth, telling others about how God has changed our lives becomes much less scary and inconvenient.
Matthew 28:20 tells us that Jesus knew the purpose of His life, and that purpose was not for His own comfort or safety. His purpose was not to be served by other people, although He, of all people, deserved to be served. His purpose was to serve other people and die on a cross to save them from their sins.
If Jesus' mission was that other people would be saved, how much more should we focus and spend our lives for the sake of others' salvation? In John 13, Jesus' showed His disciples that if He lived a life of service and sacrifice, they should follow His example. At this time, Jesus knew He was about to die and was sharing His last meal with His disciples. Before the meal began, Jesus washed each one of His disciples' feet, which was normally the job of a hired servant when guests arrived at a person's house. Don't miss this, friends. In His last moments with His closest friends, Jesus served them. After washing their feet, Jesus explained that if He did not consider Himself to be too good to wash feet, His disciples should not consider themselves too good to be in the foot-washing business either.
Jesus spent His last moments in life serving other people. As His followers, we should dedicate our lives to serving others, bringing them to Jesus. Will you commit your life to bringing others to Him?
Earlier in this series, The Difference One Life Can Make, you were challenged to make a list of five people who do not know Christ. If you have not made that list yet, take a few moments to make it now. Evaluate your list. Who on that list can you commit to sharing your faith with? Once you have evaluated your list, pray for those who you will commit to sharing the good news of Christ with.
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
“No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.
