Introduction
Are you letting Jesus serve you, really serve you, or are you still trying to prove you can handle life on your own? The central truth I want to press into your heart is this: life together in community, in the image of the Trinity, begins with being served by Jesus the Son, the King who stoops, and then flows into us becoming a family of servants who humbly serve one another and the world.
We’re in John 13, in a series about “Life Together in Community in the Image of the Trinity.” Last week we looked at the Father and the gift of eternal life, not merely “going to heaven someday,” but a quality of life that starts now: being brought into the love and unity of God Himself (John 17). The Father loves the Son eternally, and if you are in the Son by faith, the Father’s unchanging love rests on you too. That’s your security. Now we turn to the Son. And the Son shows us something breathtaking: the King of the universe gets on the floor with a towel.
Main Points
Are you letting Jesus serve you, really serve you, or are you still trying to prove you can handle life on your own? The central truth I want to press into your heart is this: life together in community, in the image of the Trinity, begins with being served by Jesus the Son, the King who stoops, and then flows into us becoming a family of servants who humbly serve one another and the world.
We’re in John 13, in a series about “Life Together in Community in the Image of the Trinity.” Last week we looked at the Father and the gift of eternal life, not merely “going to heaven someday,” but a quality of life that starts now: being brought into the love and unity of God Himself (John 17). The Father loves the Son eternally, and if you are in the Son by faith, the Father’s unchanging love rests on you too. That’s your security.
Now we turn to the Son. And the Son shows us something breathtaking: the King of the universe gets on the floor with a towel.
The Trinity Shapes Our Community Life
God is not lonely or dependent. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have existed eternally in perfect love. That’s why love is not something God learned, it’s who He is. He didn’t have to create us; He created out of the overflow of His love.
So when Jesus prays in John 17 that we would be one “as” the Father and Son are one, He is inviting us into the very life of God, this “life together” that is deeper than the American dream. The church becomes a living picture, an imperfect but real display, of God’s own relational nature.
That’s why Christian community is not optional decoration. It’s part of God’s purpose: that His people would form recognizable, loyal, Jesus-shaped networks of relationships in a complex world, what some have called a “creative minority”, committed to practicing the way of Jesus together for the renewal of the world.
Know Who Jesus Really Is
John 13 gives us a beloved picture: Jesus washing feet. But before we treat this as a mere example of humility, we have to settle the deeper question: Who is this Jesus?
People have all kinds of opinions, Jesus as teacher, avatar, prophet, lesser god, or something invented. But Scripture is clear. Jesus is not partly God and partly man. He is fully God and fully man. Colossians 1 presents Him as the image of the invisible God, the One through whom and for whom all things were made, and the One who holds all things together (cf. Colossians 1:15–17). Hebrews 1 portrays Him as the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature (cf. Hebrews 1:3). John 1 and Ephesians 1 likewise lift our eyes to His divine majesty.
So let this land: the One who sustains the universe is the One with the towel. That’s the shock of John 13. This is not “the president becomes your plumber.” That analogy isn’t high enough. Jesus Himself is the reality: the King stooping to serve.
Serve Flows From Secure Identity
John 13:1–5 shows Jesus moving toward the cross, fully aware of what’s coming. John emphasizes Jesus’ inner stability:
- He knows His “hour” has come (John 13:1).
- He loves His own “to the end” (John 13:1).
- He knows the Father has given all things into His hands (John 13:3).
- He knows He came from God and is going back to God (John 13:3).
And then He rises, lays aside His garments, takes a towel, and washes feet.
Do you see the order? Jesus serves from security, not insecurity. He doesn’t wash feet to earn the Father’s approval. He washes feet because He already rests in the Father’s love and calling.
And that’s where you and I must begin too. If you try to serve to gain worth, to prove yourself, or to earn spiritual status, you’ll either become proud, exhausted, resentful, or all three. But when you know the Father loves you in the Son, service becomes freedom.
Receive His Washing Before You Act
Peter voices what many of us feel: “You shall never wash my feet” (John 13:8). It sounds humble, but underneath it often hides something else: resistance to dependence.
Jesus answers with a weighty line: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8). In other words, you don’t enter fellowship with Jesus by impressing Him; you enter by being cleansed by Him.
This is where we have to be honest: church culture can subtly train us to perform, to show our best face, to appear put-together, to hide our mess, to avoid letting others see need. Hospitality can feel threatening because people might see our real life. Community can feel risky because it exposes sin, weakness, and dependence.
But discipleship begins with this confession: “Lord, I need You to serve me.”
And even when Peter swings to the other extreme, “Not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:9), Jesus clarifies: if you are clean, you still need ongoing cleansing (John 13:10). That’s daily and weekly Christianity. As you grow, you don’t outgrow grace; you become more aware of the gap between Christ’s holiness and your remaining sin, and you learn to run to Him again and again.
So I’m asking you directly: Where are you still refusing to let Jesus wash you? What area are you holding back, time, schedules, control, habits, relationships, hidden sin, because you know that if you let Him serve you there, He’ll also call you to follow Him there?
Let the King Define How He Serves
There’s another resistance in us: we want Jesus to serve us, but on our terms.
We can give Him a religious slot: “Serve me on Sunday for an hour. Maybe serve me in a midweek study. You can have a quiet time window.” But we don’t want Him to interrupt the calendar, challenge the priorities, expose prejudice, reorder relationships, or draw us into inconvenient people and costly love.
Yet Jesus is the King who serves, which means He serves us in the way He knows we need, not merely in the way we prefer. His service includes cleansing, yes, but also confrontation, reordering, and calling.
So ask yourself: Have I been negotiating the terms of Jesus’ lordship while still expecting His comfort? Let Him serve you like a King, wisely, thoroughly, and with authority.
Wash One Another’s Feet in Humility
After Jesus finishes, He asks, “Do you understand what I have done to you?” (John 13:12). Then He says something that binds doctrine to practice:
“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:13–14)
This is the discipleship pattern I want you to remember:
- God is (Father, Son, Spirit, perfect love and unity).
- God acts (the Son stoops to serve and cleanse).
- God names you (you belong, you are clean, you share with Him).
- Then you do (you wash one another’s feet).
We don’t start with doing. We start with being served by Jesus. Then we become a church family marked by humility, practicing lowliness, taking the towel, meeting real needs, serving in hidden ways, and gladly taking the lower place because our identity is already secure.
Conclusion
John 13 is not sentimental. It is stunning: the eternal Son, the radiance of God’s glory, the One who holds everything together, gets down in front of His disciples, including the weak, the proud, and even the betrayer in their midst, and He washes feet.
So here is your discipleship call: let Jesus serve you first, without pride, without negotiation, without pretending, and then take up the towel. In your home, in your friendships, in your church family, and toward “the least of these,” we become a community that looks like our Servant King.
Father, thank You that You have loved the Son from all eternity, and that in Christ You have set that same unchanging love on us. Jesus, Servant King, we confess how often we resist being served, how often we try to prove ourselves, hide our need, or control the ways You’re allowed to work in us. Wash us again. Cleanse us by Your grace and remind us that we have no share with You except by Your mercy.
Holy Spirit, form in us the humility of Christ. Make our church and our homes a family of servants, secure in the Father’s love, joyful in following the Son, and ready to wash one another’s feet in practical, sacrificial ways. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
John 13 is not sentimental. It is stunning: the eternal Son, the radiance of God’s glory, the One who holds everything together, gets down in front of His disciples, including the weak, the proud, and even the betrayer in their midst, and He washes feet.
So here is your discipleship call: let Jesus serve you first, without pride, without negotiation, without pretending, and then take up the towel. In your home, in your friendships, in your church family, and toward “the least of these,” we become a community that looks like our Servant King.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You that You have loved the Son from all eternity, and that in Christ You have set that same unchanging love on us. Jesus, Servant King, we confess how often we resist being served, how often we try to prove ourselves, hide our need, or control the ways You’re allowed to work in us. Wash us again. Cleanse us by Your grace and remind us that we have no share with You except by Your mercy.
Holy Spirit, form in us the humility of Christ. Make our church and our homes a family of servants, secure in the Father’s love, joyful in following the Son, and ready to wash one another’s feet in practical, sacrificial ways. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.