pickledilly

Jesus is a friend to anyone who belongs to the Father and obeys what He has told us, as we’re motivated by our love for Him. Every friend of Jesus has mind-blowing access to the heart of Father. I love Pastor Ralph’s statement that “Jesus' friends have the privilege of sitting down with the Master and understanding his Kingdom.” Only through Jesus and His Spirit within us do we have any understanding of the truths of God and his Kingdom. He teaches us on a spiritual level, revealing things that are undiscernible to the natural human mind. And “You get to share in his joy and plans for the future.” What a promise and privilege that we are co-heirs with Christ! As His friend (which is the best way to start a relationship that leads to the marriage of a bride and groom!) He shares all His joy and strength and peace and wisdom with us. And He shares the encouraging hope that by His Spirit, His own inheritance has been promised to us when we are united with Him forever. When we take this for granted, we presume upon our Friend. The necessary components of love and respect are compromised as we begin to focus on self more than on Him. If this goes too far, we can become casual, unappreciative, and even distant. We'll crimp our attachment to the True Vine and restrict the Spirit's flow of power and energy that makes us fruitful. Every vibrant friendship requires active participation from both sides! We’re can’t neglect our responsibilities in this relationship or else we will suffer losses in the benefits of this gift of friendship.

Abiding in the love Christ has for us is intimately linked to obeying His commandments. Love opens the heart to willingly obey in response, not always perfectly but always with the prevailing desire to please. Jesus said that abiding in this voluntary yielding to God’s commands (whose primary law is that of love – Matthew 22:37-40) will result in the blessing of joy. This is entirely different from the obligation and legalism of rule-keeping, which deal with judgment not love. The Greek definition of joy that I really like is “calm, satisfied delight”. We will enjoy a serene gladness of heart in the One we love, knowing that we do our best to honor and please Him. When we fail in our obedience, we lose our delight in Christ because we’ve allowed a barrier that blocks unhindered fellowship between self and Him, the origin and fullness of our joy.

The fruit produced by a connection to Jesus will have the spiritual nature of Jesus. It will be fruit that only the Spirit can produce in us. The light, wisdom, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, etc. will be according to the character of Jesus. This fruit of character will cause an observable transformation in every person united with Him. In thinking about how this fruit in believers could be defined as “souls saved”, I read the 3 Scripture references in our lesson where Paul is said to have spoken of fruit as “people won to Christ on his mission”. But I honestly don’t understand any of those verses to say that people are fruit that we can claim any credit for OR that is a required evidence of our own fruitfulness. In Romans 1:13 Paul expressed his longing to come to the believers in Rome “in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.” However, Paul didn’t imply he was producing the harvest; he was working as a reaper. There’s an important difference in believing yourself to be someone who “saves souls” and recognizing that you are simply someone called to cast the seed of truth and be prepared to harvest those whom God saves. Romans 15:28 is in the context of collecting an offering prepared by Gentile believers to be delivered as aid to Jewish believers in Jerusalem, with no connection I can discern to the salvation of people. In Philippians 1:22, Paul simply spoke of a desire for “fruitful labor”, in no way specifying that as saving souls. I may be missing something, but those verses seem clear to me. The danger in defining fruit as “souls saved” lies in deflecting the glory of God’s work of salvation to ourselves as some kind of badge of fruitfulness. It can become a numbers game to define our "success". Yes, we want to see souls saved through our efforts to obey God and serve His kingdom. But salvation is not our fruit, it’s His fruit often produced in others through us. The fruit the Father seeks to produce in us is the holy character, mind, and heart of Christ that leads us to personal faith and obedience that He will use to influence and impact other people. I think PeteD made a comment so important that I’m quoting it here: "It can be called "being born again" or - reduced to "a soul is saved". While it it is true that a soul is saved, it is so much more. Simply calling this "a soul is saved" does not adequately convey the whole thing." Terminology does matter (think product of conception vs preborn human baby). "Born again" clearly defines a process of transformation that could only be done by/through the Spirit of God. "Soul saved" sounds like a box to check on a to-do list of human effort. That kind of focus would obscure the authentic process of the Spirit's production of the fruit of Christ's character in those who are connected to the True Vine. The spiritual fruit of character will produce the spiritually fruitful works.

When Jesus said “Apart from Me you can do nothing”, He was referring to the spiritual dimension of the Kingdom of God. I immediately thought of Isaiah 64:6, which reminds us that sin has made us unclean and “all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags” in the sight of our holy God. Even with our best efforts, we can’t accomplish anything of eternal value because what is of the transient flesh cannot produce what is of the eternal Spirit. So, apart from Christ at work in us through His Spirit, nothing we attempt “for God” has any lasting value. The example in these verses is that what is done of the flesh will one day be revealed, cut off, and burned in the fires of judgment. That doesn’t mean we as believers will be destroyed, just the works we have done out of our own desires, motivations, strength, and efforts.

To abide is to remain, to dwell, to continue on in something. While we're responsible for many practical obligations to living out our faith, this doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints is ultimately about our eternal security in Christ. Anyone truly saved from divine judgment and born of the spirit will forever trust in Christ, and while we often fail Him in our journey we are still sealed by the Spirit and secured with the Father. I’ve been in discussions with some who use these verses to argue that saved people can reject God, then “lose” their salvation and be cut from the vine when they don’t endure in obedience and fruitfulness. But I see John 15:4-5 as a picture of what God has done in establishing this abiding relationship and describing the evidence of it (persevering in faith to the end), rather than a command for some impossible effort to humanly maintain a position in Christ that can fail and lead to removal from that position. When studying what Jesus taught the disciples, I always try to remain aware that He was teaching Jewish people who were not yet “Christians” with a secured relationship to God through the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). That relationship could not happen until Pentecost. These followers had believed in the words of Jesus and were “clean” before God (Jn.15:3). But what He said here about clean branches is set between verses 2 and 6, which give a specific context. I understand this to be a contrast with the unfruitful branches under the covenant of Law who were unclean because of unbelief in the Word made flesh. The disciples had to understand that the Jews who rejected Jesus as the True Vine (as a nation and as individuals) and refused to abide in Him (as evidenced by the absence of spiritual fruit in their lives) would be cut off and destroyed. This word of warning is for any “impostor” who thinks himself to be a righteous branch but has no genuine reliance and trust in Christ as the Vine. I think Jesus was encouraging and assuring these believers that the spiritual fruitfulness in their lives and their perseverance in faith were reliable evidence of the relationship they had with Him - like branches firmly attached, integrated, growing, and bearing fruit on the vine. For anyone growing on His Vine, there will be the constant sustenance and flow of His energy that empowers us to spiritually mature in obedient faith and produce fruit in His likeness. We are “in Him” and He is in us, like the branch and vine are unique parts of the same plant with distinctive capabilities and purposes yet each incorporated with the other. When we are dwelling in that and holding to His Word without resistance, there is no interruption in the back-and-forth symbiotic union that is our personal relationship. It is intimate and unhindered. And the teaching here is that anyone who has this type of union and relationship with Christ will persevere and endure in it. Yes, there is inevitable pruning by the Father for all the reasons and benefits of growth we discussed in Q1, but never an end to this relationship by the separation of removal.

Jesus spoke only what the Father gave Him to speak, and what the Father speaks is always and only truth. So, when we abide/dwell/remain in the Word of God, we abide in truth. And it is truth that sets us free from the grip of sin, its influence, and its consequences (8:31-32). As we expose ourselves to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit ministers understanding, conviction, correction, and guidance for applying truth to our lives. This Word of truth washes/scours our hearts to cleanse and purify our motives and desires. It transforms our thoughts and reasoning as we receive the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2). And it develops His righteous character in us, which leads us to respond to the Father with the love for Him and others that leads to act in obedience just as Jesus did (14:31). Knowing and obeying Truth can only lead us away from filth, darkness, and bondage toward purity, light, and liberty!

Grapevines must be pruned of dead and diseased wood in order to grow healthy and be most productive, otherwise plant energy will be drained off by growth that isn’t useful and the entire vine will be negatively affected. Also, undesired shoots and buds are removed to stimulate growth that can be concentrated into the desired remaining shoots to properly nourish healthy abundant fruit and protect the vine from damaging overload. A vinedresser is very deliberate about selecting which buds to keep and what their placement will be, always mindful of the need for each individual shoot to have proper sunlight and air circulation. And since vines randomly twine and attach themselves with unruly ever-reaching tendrils, pruning also maintains the proper growth habit and shaping. All of this effort is for the purpose of growing a healthier vine and increasing production of high quality fruit. God the Father is our vinedresser. He prunes us by the application of His Word in our lives through the ministry of the Spirit. Many times my conscience has been pierced or direction has become clear as I’ve read something specific in Scripture and the Spirit has used it to lead me to let go of something or change a course of action or thought. Many times God prunes through the circumstances He allows into our lives, using what others do around us as well as things that happen to us and things we bring on ourselves when we stray. And many times He prunes as He distinguishes the good from the best in our lives. If I was only allowed one word for God’s most-used instrument for pruning people and congregations, it would simply be change. He uses change to challenge us when we're disobedient, to trim us back when the flesh grows wild, to re-direct our undisciplined lack of spiritual growth, to remove unhealthy or unprofitable habits and desires that sap focus and energy for His will. And we don’t always like change because it’s uncomfortable and painful as we have to release things to God's pruning shears when we’d rather stay attached. Far too often, we’re pridefully absorbed with self-desires instead of being focused on the Father’s loving best for our lives. We resist by trying to ignore/deny what God is doing, not seeking His wisdom, and even attempting to run from Him. Being pruned is a given for every believer because this life is about being shaped into the character of Jesus, the Head of our Body. But desiring His glory, submitting to His leading as a response of love, and drawing near to His heart in obedience will prevent a need for severe pruning.

Sin is born of the darkness and satan wants to keep us in that darkness, separated from the light of truth and liberation. He studies our weak points and knows all the best ways to use them against us. He entices us into iniquity but then reminds us constantly of the resulting sins and failures. He uses shame, doubt, fear, and condemnation to chain us to the past and convince us we can never be unshackled to move forward. Jesus, as the Son of Man, stayed free from bondage to satan by only doing what the Father commanded, which kept Him from sin of any kind and denied satan any accusation to bring against Him. This is our perfect and ideal model. We’re unable to achieve the full perfection Jesus had, but the closer we stay to the Father and the more we obey His truth, the less sin will be in our lives for satan to use against us. When we do sin, we need to be honest about it with self and before God. We should quickly confess it with repentance so that forgiveness can be applied. And even when there are consequences to our forgiven sin, we must choose again to walk in faith according to what God says about us – not what we think of ourselves or the lies our enemy tries to make us believe.

Jesus offers us the peace that was announced by the angels at the time of His birth as a human baby – the goodwill of God in extending peace toward man. Through Christ, we who were enemies of God have been given the opportunity for forgiveness and redemption, for restoration to God and harmony with Him (Ephesians 2:13). Such a peace-filled relationship was impossible on our own; only God could provide it for us. And that peace was accomplished through Jesus. For us now on earth, this peace is manifested as an inner state of calmness and harmony with God. We can live with a settled assurance that His presence with strength and comfort is certain and unfailing, and that His promises for our future are secured and eternal. The fullness of His peace will one day be fully manifest outwardly throughout all creation under the rule of the Prince of Peace when God’s ultimate plan is accomplished as all things of heaven and earth are brought together in unity under the authority of Christ (Ephesians 1:10). The assured hope of that day is unshakeable peace to us in this life!

In these verses, Jesus was clear and specific about the Paraclete. He identified this divine Helper as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God would be sent in the name of Jesus to believers by the Father. The word name in Greek is onoma, which has to do with “the manifestation or revelation of someone’s character and reputation, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others” [HELPS Word Studies]. The Spirit was coming in the authority and character of Jesus, the Person of God who would indwell the Body of Christ on earth with the same message and truth from the Father that Jesus presented. Jesus said the overall role of the Spirit would be to teach us all things from God and remind us of all that Jesus taught us. The Spirit will never dispute or lead us astray from anything Jesus said. This was important to the apostles (and to us) because there is one uniform Word from God presented by both Jesus and the Spirit. It is to be learned, understood, interpreted, and taught just as Jesus revealed it – unaltered and undistorted by human analysis or bias or misinterpretation. The apostles had been directly given the word of God by the Word made flesh but they needed discernment, and they were the first generation of messengers of that message to the world so it had to be accurate (or else the gospel would have been tainted from the very beginning). The Spirit was coming to remind the apostles of all that Jesus had taught them and give them spiritual understanding in things they just couldn't grasp on their own apart from the Spirit's ministry as their Teacher and Encourager. The pure message of Christ was to be spread throughout the world through believers (beginning with the apostles), and this could only be rightly done by God’s guidance through His Spirit in us.

Under the New Covenant, believers have one overall obligation – the mandate of love. Jesus said all previous requirements of the Old Covenant can be summed up in the commandment to love God with all your being and love your neighbor. I think that when you focus on loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, the rest develops naturally as your new outlook on life. You cannot rightly love others apart from rightly loving Him. When you love God wholeheartedly, you just cannot steal or murder or lie or use/abuse people or ignore the needs of others. Anyone who is not growing and demonstrating godly love to others simply does not truly love Jesus and is deceiving self to claim otherwise. Obedience to this call to love isn’t a legalistic burden, but is a way of life that gives evidence of your love for God and a joy in desiring to please Him. In the grace of the New Covenant of Christ, He does not value obedience motivated by ritual or duty, but obedience born of our overflowing and grateful love for Him. In the imperfections of our ability to love, we often fail Jesus in this obedience. While our relationship with Him can suffer from that, by God’s grace toward us does not depend on that!

I think of the Paraklētos as the Friend that God has sent to comfort, counsel, and advocate for us in the spiritual realm. As God in human flesh, Jesus was the first Paraclete - the Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Friend of God sent to be with us. Man could only be in His physical presence. The Holy Spirit is the second Paraclete sent by God to be in us. Now God’s presence indwells man. The Paraclete has always been God, but has been manifested to us through two different Persons of the Godhead. Jesus, as the Son of Man, was confined to the limits of a physical body on earth. But after the resurrection He had to leave earth and return to His dwelling place in heaven. So He sent the Spirit as His permanent replacement to do the same ministry that He did as Paraclete while on earth. God’s Spirit came to spiritually reside within believers all over the world throughout all human history and will never leave us!

When we truly pray in Jesus’ name, we’re praying according to how Jesus Himself would pray and ask. We’re identifying with His character and heart, His power and authority. We’re praying with the same focused desire and intent He has to bring glory to the Father in all things. We’re seeking what the Father wills and determines is right. We’re asking that the Father’s purposes and will be manifested in and through our lives. When we miss that mark and pray out of His will and purposes, our prayers cannot be answered with a “yes”. But when we rightly pray to the Father in Jesus’ name with unwavering faith (James 1:6-7), Jesus Himself promised there are no practical limits to this promise of answered prayer! With every opportunity to do what we have asked, John 14:13 indicates that it’s His delight to personally glorify His Father.

After being glorified by the Father in resurrection and return to heaven, Jesus fulfilled His promise (vs.16-17a) to ask the Father to send our Helper, the Spirit of Truth. Believers have the presence of the Spirit within us (vs.17b), and with His multiplied presence in the world, even greater things can be accomplished by God than what Jesus could do in His physical body living in one small region of the world for a few brief years. And I also think we’d expect the Son of God to do powerful works, but it’s stunning and “greater” that this kind of power should also be expected for ordinary human beings! This promise is for the apostles and all believers to come, since the Spirit is promised to all of us and there’s no difference mentioned anywhere in Scripture of how we will be spiritually equipped. We are bestowed various spiritual giftings, but we all have the same power and purpose. I believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He still uses faith-filled people to work miracles today, as long as it is for validating truth, elevating Christ, and declaring God’s glory (for example, the gift of tongues is for building the Body of Christ by proclaiming the gospel to unknown language groups). I confess that most of what I’ve seen in our day of “healings and miracles” through individuals makes me uncomfortable and skeptical because they don’t usually ring true with the reasons God works in this way. But that doesn’t mean that He never does the exact same works through believers today that He enabled Jesus to do. “Why are Christians today uncomfortable with this promise?” Most Christians have accepted God in a neat little box, small enough for them to comprehend and manage. Anything outside that paradigm is uncomfortable, and it’s easier to reject what we don’t understand. Also, we’ve lost the true picture of the early church as we’ve become religiously institutionalized and meticulously-organized in modern times. We’re often so structured that we leave no room for God’s variables. And then, so many believers are simply afraid and/or lacking in faith. We don’t even want to hear God’s voice because we fear what He might ask of us or where He might lead. Or we don't really believe He would use us this way. Lord, open our hearts to whatever You want to do through us to validate truth, elevate Jesus, and bring glory to You!

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Jesus is God who came to earth in human flesh as a man. He spoke only the words the Father gave and did only the things that the Father directed. So every word and deed of Jesus can be trusted because they are directly from God and they accurately portray God to mankind. Jesus and the Father are not one Person, but are one essence and substance of nature, character, quality, power, and authority. In an utter mystery to man, Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct yet together in union as one entity, the true and living God.

Jesus is the Way to God because it is only through Him that we can approach God. In our sin and iniquity we are unfit and unholy before God, which means we are unacceptable for relationship with Him and unworthy of heaven. There is no remedy for this condition except the atoning blood of Christ that has been given and accepted as the only deliverance from our sin. He has become the Gate we must enter and the Path we must follow in order to come to Father God. To follow Him as the Way means that we don’t look to any other person or ideology in our search for God. There are no optional routes. We must seek only to know Him, which comes through studying/meditating on His Word, spending time in communication with Him through prayer, and yielding ourselves to the work of His Spirit that lives within us. A determined focus on knowing and following Jesus is the way we will see and be given access to the Father. Jesus is the Truth of God because (1)He is God and (2)God is Truth. All that is authentic, trustworthy, perfect, and real comes from who He is. His whole earthly life was a declaration of Truth as generations of prophecies about His coming and His life were meticulously fulfilled. Every sign He gave and miracle He did validated His identity and every word He spoke as Truth. Jesus spoke only what the Father told Him to say, so He only spoke truth (12:49-50). And the fact that the Father resurrected Jesus from death to eternal life proves the truth that He is the Son of God who took our just punishment for sin (Galatians 3:13). For us and our world, this means that there is only one way to know what is authentic, trustworthy, perfect, and real – and that is through knowing Jesus and His Word. Jesus is the Life of God because (1)as Creator, He is the source of life in all that has been made (1:3-4) and (2)as Resurrected Redeemer, He alone is the source of eternal life (11:25-26; 1John 5:11-12). As we live our lives and share truth with others, we must have the perspective that we were created and are sustained by God. It’s only in humbling ourselves to this truth that we can really live the abundant life He has designed for each of us (10:10). And it’s only in embracing this truth that we can have the hope and assurance of spiritual life with Him eternally in heaven (12:25). Jesus is the Way to go to God, the Truth to know of God, and the Life that flows from God. Jesus only!

Heaven is the Father’s House, where He dwells. Jesus is there now, making preparations of a place for each child of God to be received and to live forever with Him. In line with the Jewish traditions for marriage (specifically given by God to reflect our spiritual relationship), the groom is at work to prepare the home within his father’s household where he will bring his bride when the time comes for them to be married. The father determines when the groom is ready to go and get his bride. It is a comfort to know that as we wait and make ourselves ready, our Groom is actively preparing a home for each of us in heaven. Jesus didn't just make some vague reference about what to expect; He has assured us of the home that awaits us there with Him, and everybody longs for the security and comfort of a permanent place to live. The process is being overseen by the Father, who will determine the moment when it is time for Jesus to receive His Bride. There will be no accidents, no last-minute accommodations, or frantic getting ready. It will be perfect and perfected as our ideal eternal home with Jesus! May we be as excited and eager to be with Him as He is for us to arrive!

Jesus established love as THE primary identifying characteristic of an authentic disciple. We really don’t need to know much more than that! We are being made like Him in character, and He is love. So we can gauge our status as a disciple by our growth in love. This kind of love isn’t dependent on circumstances or feelings; it is more of a choice in how we view others and what we desire for them. And it is a messy business! We all have baggage, attitudes, desires, wounds, disappointments, fears and failures to deal with. None of us are perfect, so none of us are fully capable of loving perfectly or being perfectly “loveable”. This makes it difficult to love each other in an intimate Christian community as masses of messes are all joined together in Christ and called to unity. It’s something we have to deliberately seek and work at with the Spirit's help. I’ve long believed that if we will focus hard on the first part of Matthew 22:37-40, we will be enabled to do the second part. Loving God with all our being is prerequisite to being able to rightly love others. When we love Him this way, we become more like Him in character, which gives us His view of people and opens our heart to love them the way He does. I’m grateful that even though I love so imperfectly, there is definitely a difference in the way I’m able to love others.

The New Covenant of peace between God and man is founded on love. It operates by love. And so it is “governed” through love. Love for God and for others is the highest command because it’s the heart of this new relationship established by Christ. I like Pastor Ralph’s statement that “It is not a lifestyle suggestion, it is a lifestyle requirement.” We are called to love because we have been so loved. The life of Jesus is certainly our role model for love. Everything He did was motivated by His love for the Father. And because of that love-relationship, He treated others with love, grace, kindness, patience, and compassion. He became our new standard for love – not as a duty, but with a sacrificial heart, just as He has loved us. In truth, the royal law of love has always been the core. The ceremonial Mosaic Law and the messages delivered by prophets all simply expanded and applied this foundation. All the moral codes, religious precepts, judicial laws, and prophetic messages throughout history rest on this concept of love for God and love for others. “And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:33

When we repeatedly yield to sin, we are pulled deeper and deeper into darkness a little at the time. Every time we reject the light of truth, our spiritual vision gradually becomes more darkened, our moral hearing more deadened, our heart more hardened, our conscience more numbed, and our strength to resist more undermined. This is a condition in which we’re extremely vulnerable to satan’s persistent and unrelenting influence. He is our natural default setting, the voice we hear when we aren’t seeking the voice of the Spirit of God. When Judas took the bread given to him by Jesus, it was a profound moment. Whatever his motive (I don’t believe he had any idea how it would ultimately turn out), Judas had been thinking about this and making plans for some time, rationalizing and accepting each step one by one as lies slowly replaced truth in his mind. Now he reached the point of the betrayal of his Rabbi, his spiritual leader, his friend. But Judas also betrayed the holy bread of the Seder meal that spoke of Yahweh’s promised One by taking it in utterly degenerate unbelief. And in an even larger sense, this represented something much worse. Judas was betraying and rejecting the very “food that endures to eternal life” that was being offered to him, the Bread of Life who had come down from heaven to give life to the world (John 6:32-33), the Deliverer who was looking him right in the eye and offering a final opportunity to choose a new direction. But Judas had gone so deep into darkness and his mind was so set that there was no turning back for him, and he stepped fully into the black night that would ultimately destroy him. God used Judas' sin to accomplish His glorious plan of redemption, but Judas' choice placed his own life in the deadly hands of satan.

In the Kingdom of God, honor from Him doesn't come through our expectations or desires for prestige and recognition. When we seek those kinds of things for ourselves, our only reward is what we can gain from man. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) As children of God we’re called to be like Christ, and He is the supreme example of obedience to God and selfless service to others. Such humility pleases the Father and opens His hand to raise us up and release blessing. In God’s Kingdom, great men serve others and exalt them with honor – and God ultimately exalts the humble with greater honor. Pope Francis I has set a refreshing example of humility before God and those he serves. He appears to be more concerned with things of heaven than with things that would exalt him on earth. Just as Jesus said.

Everything about the Kingdom of God is totally opposite to things of the world. When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, He didn’t do something scandalous just for the sake of being outrageous. He did something shocking and extreme to demonstrate the point that God’s estimation of greatness in His Kingdom is completely and radically different from what humanity holds in high regard. Social norms, customs, and traditions are not what God values in His Kingdom. Jesus was not establishing a special ceremony of foot washing. He was using the practical circumstances of the moment to teach a spiritual lesson. What the disciples needed to grasp is that greatness in the Kingdom of God is measured by the humility of a servant’s heart. Jesus demonstrated that the one who humbly sacrifices self to serve is the one called “great” by the Father and will be honored in heaven. It takes humility to submit to whatever act of service the Spirit leads you to do, especially when that requires sacrifice of self-importance. But it also often requires humility to be on the receiving end of that act of service. So, as a Body together in Christ, we all need to esteem this spiritual lesson of love. We are greatest in God’s Kingdom when we are willing to become least. We are seen as first when we’re willing to put ourselves last. We are doing the work of the Kingdom when we humble ourselves to serve others.

The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet. Jesus was showing Peter the core spiritual lesson of this foot washing experience. With the full baptism of the Spirit at the moment of conversion, every believer is considered/reckoned as cleansed of sin before God in terms of the law and justice. This “full bath” of being immersed in Christ is a one-time event in the life of anyone who accepts the Savior that covers our sin in God’s sight, and it never occurs again (in fact, it cannot occur again). But as we begin to live this new Spirit-led life in Christ, the old nature of sin launches an ongoing battle for control with the new creation of spiritual life within us. And that war is a life-long process, where we do not view sin with the same old desire and pleasure but we still fall into its traps. When we respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of our sin in those times where we fail and then confess it to the Father, we get our “feet washed” of the dirt we picked up as we walked through that dusty, dirty sin. The full bath represents the overall redemption from our condition of sin. The foot washing represents cleansing of the daily sins we incur during our walk through this life.

Judging people pours down condemnation on them rather than bringing about personal conviction of transgression that leads to repentance. It’s not our place to pass judgment on people but to follow Jesus’ example of love and mercy. He said His mission on earth at that time was not to judge but to bring salvation (John 3:17; 8:15; 12:47). The Day of Judgment is for a future time described in Revelation 19:11, Psalm 96:11-13, and Isaiah 11:3-4. Instead of condemning, His example was to offer the Kingdom of God and demonstrate the Father’s will/desire to heal man's brokenness and restore humanity to Himself. So many times, Jesus ministered compassionately to the downcast, fallen, and wounded with only the word to “Go on with your life, and don't be overcome by this sin anymore”. This reflects the great love He has for us. And we’re to love others like we love ourselves and treat others the way we desire to be treated – and humbly remember what a mess we generally are with our own struggles. Releasing self-righteousness and yielding to that same great love now in us is what tempers our own judgmental nature and enables us to see others as God sees them - broken and dying. We must learn to condemn the sin without condemning the individual and when correction is necessary we should do it with a compassionate attitude (even if it's rejected).

When we hide our relationship with God out of fear of criticism and rejection we are revealing a concern over man’s opinion that is greater than one for God’s estimation. Our priorities are self-protection and preservation. I think every believer faces moments and situations where we battle such a fear, but I’d have to wonder about the authenticity of faith for someone who totally denies a belief in Christ. A true follower of Christ will have the inner presence of Light that begins to break through and shine outwardly, and that Light can’t be forever hidden when the Spirit is at work within to develop spiritual fruit. In those times when we deny and try to hide the Light of truth, believers suffer consequences of shame, regret, and broken fellowship with God. Peter was overcome with grief and wept bitter tears when he realized how he had denied Jesus. A genuine follower of Christ cannot flatly deny Him and maintain inner peace.