Christ cares deeply about believers who stumble and fall into sinful behavior. Christ expects the fellow believers connected with the shamed believer to forgive, support and restore the one who has repented. Every believer sins during their journey through life but sometimes the sinful act has tremendous ramifications such as public shame, severed relationships and loss of financial resources. Perhaps the act may have devastated others by causing the death or wellbeing of others resulting in incarceration. Sometimes the sin is not publicly observed but the sense of personal shame may be debilitating. A Christian who falls into such a situation and desires to repent, recover and be restored is depending on their fellow believers to show love and compassion greater than the sin that originally caused the problem. Christ has given us this ministry and we should learn to embrace this privilege. It is not always easy and is often ignored and replaced with hypocritical posturing. Subsequently we interfere with the unity that should characterize us as believers.
Christ anticipated this dilemma during his earthly ministry and planned a significant demonstration the night before he was to be crucified. He used the act of washing his disciples feet as a metaphor for restoring shamed believers back into the fold. The goal of this restoration is to gain victory in the life and service of one who would have been otherwise defeated by Satan’s scar of sin and shame. Pastors, leaders and all who comprise the local fellowship have a responsibility to be prepared to restore much like a shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to recover the one.
Peter was the most outspoken disciple of Christ and boasted that he would “lay down his life for Christ” only to go on to emphatically deny even knowing him (John 13:37-38). After it was too late to change what he had done, Peter felt great shame and may have decided to resign himself to withdraw from his calling and live out his life as a reclusive fisherman. However Christ preempted this potential loss and taught about restoration and Peter went on to be a strong, confident and powerful leader of the early church. Two of his letters have been preserved in the canon of Scripture and have lasted through the generations and will be treasured by believers until the Second Coming of Christ! As members of a local fellowship of believers, we can gain victory from the ashes of devastation by utilizing the power of forgiveness and restoration, or in other words, by washing the feet of one another. In so doing, we will be able to gain the benefit of many believers who would otherwise be lost or marginalized as unfit for ministry.
Here are some important points to consider about the foot washing demonstration and how they relate to restoring believers after suffering an episode of sin and shame.
- Cleanliness and dirtiness are terms that metaphorically represent one who is forgiven, justified and in good standing over against one who is in need of repentance, forgiveness and restoration.
- Christ distinguishes one whose body is clean but dirt is present on their feet as one who is justified but has sinned and is in need of forgiveness and restoration. Repentance is implied. The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7) but water is often used as a way to maintain this sanctification as we journey through life (Ephesians 5:26, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:14).
- Christ explains that unless they have their feet washed, they would have no part with him. This represents communion with the Godhead but also fellowship with one another which is, in essence, an extension of communion with God through fellow believers. We are made into a new creation and are one with Christ (Ephesians 5:29-30). He also emphasizes that they should perform this act for one another. Moreover, he plainly states that they won’t understand the significance of the teaching until a later time. Fellowship and communion are critically important elements in the life of a fruitful believer.
- Christ was their Lord and Teacher and he humbly performed this act for all the disciples. In fact, the emphasis is on the one doing the washing, not on the one being cleaned. This indicates the spiritual teaching is directed to the believers in good standing restoring the one who is disconnected due to a failure. It is the responsibility of the fellowship of believers to initiate restoration and healing just as Christ initiated the foot washing. We play a part in the the ongoing sanctification of other believers. This is part of our priestly service (1 Peter 2:5-9).
The Recorded Event
“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
“The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’
“Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’
“’No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’
“Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’
“’Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’
“Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
John 13:1-17
Later that evening, Peter denied any connection with Christ, perhaps his greatest public blunder. He went on to feel shame and defeat but was restored by the others and eventually goes on to be one of the leaders of the church. Based on that evidence, we can be certain that the disciples came to understand the hidden meaning of Christ’s demonstration. We would do well to continue to demonstrate love in our relationships with other believers. Christ cares so deeply for the communion of believers that he commanded them to love one another (John 13:34-35) and sent the Holy Spirit to guide and enable them to accomplish this important ministry (John 14:15-27).
The Divine Process
The source of compassion begins with our Heavenly Father who has provided this resource as a means of showing his love and forgiveness to the shamed believer. The Father is able to forgive because of the shed blood of Christ the Son. Christ enables the restoration of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit sent to those connected with the one who has sinned. Therefore, the church pastors, deacons, elders and members all have a responsibility to complete the process of love and forgiveness that began with our Heavenly Father and ends with the restored believer. This is a necessary process to maintain healthy believers who are empowered to share their spiritual gifts and bear spiritual fruit. Christ explains metaphorically:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
John 15:1-4
Summary
Christ cares deeply about believers who stumble and fall into sinful behavior. Christ expects the fellow believers connected with the sinning believer to forgive, support and restore the one who has repented. The restoration results in manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life and actions of the one who was restored and God is glorified while Satan’s schemes are diminished.
Christ expects repentance from the one who sinned and forgiveness and restoration from those believers who are connected to them. This process begins with God the Father and extends through the Godhead and the fellowship of believers to the one who would have been otherwise stranded. Christ prayed for divine assistance to ensure the unity of believers would be maintained. While the world is obsessed with selfishness, power and pride, believers will be occupied with humble compassion, thankfulness and worship of the Savior who washed the feet of his disciples. We press on knowing that our Lord prayed emphatically that the love of the Father would be made known through a unified body of believers who maintain an intimate connection with the Godhead. Because of that unity, we must demonstrate love, forgiveness and restoration for one another. May we gain victory over shame and turn mistakes into milestones on the way to the presence of the Father!
The Real Lord’s Prayer
“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17
All Scripture quoted from:
New International Version (NIV)
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