Encountering God: Cultivating Habits of Faith Through the Spiritual DisciplinesSample

Day Six: True Greatness

The Spiritual Discipline of Service

In my experience, disciplining myself to serve when I didn’t feel like it has often resulted in a joy of serving I wasn’t expecting. Other times serving remained a challenge that required me to draw on God’s strength to accomplish the task. In both cases, I’ve grown in the process. Whether serving comes naturally or it’s something you have to work at, we’ll see how fundamental a serving spirit is to the heart of Jesus. And how necessary each of our gifts is to the body of Christ.

Read John 13:12-17.

In the ancient world, hosts offered the common courtesy of washing the feet of their guests. However, the most menial of slaves would typically be the one to carry out the task.7 But on this occasion, Jesus took up the basin and towel. After all this time of living life with His disciples, Jesus was making a profound point to them.

Most every year at JMI’s Jungle Pastor’s Conference in the Amazon, we end our session with a foot washing ceremony where we wash the feet of our jungle pastors. It never ceases to be a profoundly moving and emotional experience. It’s deeply meaningful because we are tangibly participating in a physical action of Jesus, a sacrament of sorts. But perhaps more meaningful than the act itself is the spirit of humility it requires. Knees on concrete, necks craned downward, thumbs pressed into the feet of gospel-bearers necessitates a heart that has bowed itself to King Jesus. The physical posture of foot washing expresses an inward reality that we are there to serve, and lowering ourselves for others is our joy and privilege.

Since foot washing doesn’t appear to have grown into a major practice of the early church, I believe Jesus was modeling a lifestyle of servanthood and humility more than anything else.

We don’t have to get fancy or elaborate with serving. We don’t have to run out and start a non-profit tomorrow. Remember what Jesus modeled in John 13—humility, love, care, and a servant’s heart. This is what He’s asking of us.

PERSONAL REFLECTION What’s an act of service that requires you to exhibit a similar spirit of humility as washing someone’s feet?

For more of this study, including video teaching by author Kelly Minter, visit lifeway.com/encounteringgod.

Endnotes

1. D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 127.

2. Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 794.

3. Ibid.

4. ​​William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), 225.

5. Ibid.

6. Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing (Grand Rapids, MI: BakerAcademic, 2017), xviii, 241–242.

7. Craig L. Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey, 2nd Edition (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2009), 385.