← Back to Bible Notes Directory Ask AI About This Study →
John 13:3-17 John New Testament

Jesus: A Servant in Word and Deed

Study Overview: Drawing from Christ's supreme example in Mark 10:45 and John 13, this message reveals how the Creator of the universe willingly humbled Himself to meet both the spiritual and physical needs of all humanity through His life and sacrificial death. Believers are practically called to abandon worldly pursuits of status and instead adopt this same servant-hearted posture, humbly and impartially serving others regardless of societal standing.
Speaker / Author: Rhodes Davis
#Faith & Discipleship #The Church & Doctrine #Moral & Ethical Issues #The Nature of God #Holiness & Sin

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

I. Text: John 13:3-17

II. For our purposes, a servant is a person who serves others willingly

A. They are not forced to serve others like a slave

B. Servants of Christ are not paid to serve others

III. Jesus was God’s Son, creator of the world, and deserved to be served by all men yet He served men:

A. Instead of coming to be served, He travelled around teaching people about God, how to serve him, and how to live good lives: served the spiritual needs of men with the words of life

B. Instead of coming to be served, He allowed men to beat Him, make fun of Him, and kill him on a cross in order to save us from dying in our sins and being eternally punished by God. Mark 10:45.

C. Throughout his life Jesus served people that were considered great and powerful as well as people that the rest of society considered lowlife trash.

D. Everyone was below Jesus in importance but Jesus served everyone as if they were more important than him!

E. His apostles had a hard time understanding this until Jesus taught them about service the night before His death.

IV. Background

A. Jesus knew that He would soon be killed on a cross—crucified

B. He also knew that one of his apostles, Judas, will betray Him that night.

C. The apostles were not aware of these things and they were discussing who would be the greatest among them, Luke 22:24-26, and be served by everyone else.

V. Jesus washed the disciples feet

A. In the middle of their discussion of who would be great among them, the only one who was truly great among them, put a towel around his waist, and took a bowl and pitcher of water and came to the first disciple.

B. Imagine the many voices talking at once about why they should be so great quickly becoming silent as Jesus knelt to the first disciple, took his foot gently into his hands and began to pour water on the disciple’s foot.

  1. They would have been in shock for Jesus was their master and teacher yet was washing the feet of his disciples.
  2. Washing feet was a necessity
    • The roads were not usually paved and even brick roads accumulated dust and debris.
    • Since most people walked in sandals or barefoot, the feet would get dirty walking in the city
  3. It was a very humble job
    • Typically, the master of the house would provide the water and towel for the visitor to wash with, John 7:44.
    • If the family were wealthy, a servant, probably the lowest rank (sometimes the child of a servant), would wash the visitor’s feet.
    • If the guest was an extremely important person, the master or someone in his family might wash their feet.

C. Jesus, the great teacher and their master, was doing the lowest possible job to serve

  1. When Jesus came to Peter, Peter refused to let Jesus wash his feet since Jesus was the master.
  2. When Jesus rebuked Peter for not allowing Jesus to wash his feet, the apostle overreacted and told Jesus to wash his whole body.
    • In Peter’s mind, if foot washing was desirable, why not wash him completely.
    • However, Jesus said that only his feet needed washing.
    • Jesus was providing a service that they needed while teaching a lesson

VI. What did Jesus teach the apostles?

A. Jesus taught humility

  1. They had argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom.
  2. They thought Jesus would set up a powerful world empire and they wanted to be rulers that people would obey.
    • Jesus’ lesson here changed them into servants of the kingdom, who would serve all men by teaching the gospel.
    • Jesus taught them to be servants of all, Matthew 20:25-28.
    • Jesus showed them that the kingdom would not be about how important you are but how important you make other people feel

B. Jesus taught service

  1. The servant is not above his master so if the master served, then the servant has no choice but to humble himself.
  2. We worship a God who serves!
    • He is to be adored, praised, and worshipped.
    • In humility, He came as a man, lived among sinful men, preached the gospel, then died a cruel and unjust death.
    • He is worthy to be served.

C. Jesus taught love and service to enemies

  1. Jesus washed Judas’ feet, the one who would deny Him that night.
  2. It would be easy, and understandable, for Jesus, when He came to Judas, to refuse to wash the feet of his betrayer.
  3. However, Jesus showed in this that sometimes we must even serve our enemies; sometimes enemies who may act like our friends.
  4. It is easy to serve someone who appreciates you, it is tough to show that same humility and service to one who has made himself your enemy.

VII. Jesus can transform us into servants for him that act like he did

A. Our humble service

  1. Even today, Jesus is changing self-seeking, ambitious people into servants.
    • Philippians 2:1-11
    • The change begins with a mind like Christ.
    • The mind of Christ considers others better than self
    • Jesus did not consider that anyone was a nobody! Everyone had value to him because they were made in God’s image.
    • We must never consider ourselves too good to serve the least of our brethren here.
    • If you think that someone is not the type of person that you want to, or care to serve because you feel like you are better than them, Jesus is serving them. Are you better than Jesus?
    • If Jesus can serve those who were his enemies, even washing the feet of the one who would betray him, how can we not serve those who make themselves our enemy, Luke 6:27.
    • The mind of Christ looks out for what is in the best interest of others not everyone doing things to make our lives better.
  2. We cannot be too proud to offer the most humble service to others
    • W. Tozer: “Because Christ Jesus came to the world clothed in humility, he will always be found among those who are clothed with humility. He will be found among the humble people.”
    • Service to others might require cleaning toilets, washing their feet, picking up garbage, or other things we might find disgusting but if it is service that they need, we should not consider ourselves too good to provide it.
  3. When our mind is changed to be like Christ, we must use the abilities God has given us to serve others, 1 Peter 4:10
    • We have the ability to be a friend…someone here needs a friend
    • We have the ability to be kind…someone here needs to feel loved
    • We have the ability to make someone’s day brighter and load lighter. Will we do it?
    • 1 John 3:16-18 – if we love like Jesus we will give to help others
  4. Work as if you are working for God, Colossians 3:23-24
    • “Christ has no hands but our hands”
    • We are able to glorify God when we do his work with our hands, Matthew 5:16.
    • When we do God’s work he rewards us for our service to others
    • Matthew 10:42 – God rewards the smallest act of kindness for others

VIII. Jesus not only taught us how to be servants, he demonstrated service by being a servant to all. Remember what we said at the beginning of the lesson: Everyone was below Jesus in importance but Jesus served everyone as if they were more important than him! If we want to be a servant like Jesus, we must serve everyone and not consider that we are too good to serve others, especially those that the world considers lowlife or nobodies.

Explore this study with AI Synthesis

Ask questions about the text, related Old & New Testament cross-references, or practical applications for teaching.

Synthesize With AI →