Introduction

Alright, this morning's topic is washing feet in modern times. Hopefully you will leave this place, every one of us, a very skilled foot washer. Now for some of you who are kind of new here, maybe new in the faith, you wonder what is this term foot washer? Why do we need to be foot washers? Maybe this picture might help you a little bit. On the last night that Jesus was on Earth, with his disciples, He gathered them together in what is commonly called the Lord's Supper. And you know it is normal at the last time you have with your loved ones before you leave, maybe a long journey, maybe before you die, whatever, you want to summarize everything that you have taught your loved ones, your children, or whatever. And you want to summarize everything on this special occasion. That is what Jesus wanted to do on this last supper with his disciples. He spent three years with them. He taught them with his life, with his lessons. And now he was going to summarize everything. But what happened was, during this last supper, he did something that sort of shook everybody. He stood up, and he began to wash their feet. And this event is well known to Christians. And all Christians know that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. If you ask Christians about this event, they say “Yeah, I know about it.” Then you ask the next question. Why did Jesus do that? And almost all Christians will say Jesus did it to teach us humility. Because for a boss to wash his disciples’ feet, for the leader to wash his followers’ feet, is an act of great humility. So typically, the answer is, Jesus did it to teach us humility.

My point is, if Jesus, this is reenacted year by year (washing feet), you know, in different churches, we have not done it yet in this church, maybe this year, Pastor Jason can come and do it for us, you know, wash all our feet. But this is reenacted year by year as an act of humility. But if this was so, if Jesus did this to teach humility, I am not impressed. I'll be honest with you. I didn't think that was a very brilliant move. Don't you think these guys look humbler? Then the previous guy? Hey, having a gold hat. That's a very humble. Bald? That is humble. Having nice white clothes, if you really are humble, and do humble jobs, they wouldn't be white for long, right? It's not easy to keep anything white. Therefore, I think these fellows do a lot better. I mean, that is a rough dress. Not easy to see dirt on it, one piece, you know, one piece of cloth. No tailoring, very simple. I think these people seem humbler. You asked me. Hey, one shoulder bare. How many of you guys don't mind walking around today, one shirt, one shoulder bare? That's kind of odd. And you know, they don't do this once a year. They dress like that every day. So, you tell me if Jesus was trying to teach humility by the act of washing feet, I think these people do a lot better in showing their humility. What about this one? This guy I think out does the previous one. He does not live in a monastery doesn't have electricity doesn't have running water. He lives in a cave. I mean, the other guys were going back for food, you know with the bowls. This guy is the one to beg from generally speaking. He fast, he starves until some lizard appears or something. Or some moss appears and eats. You asked me I think this guy shows more humility than the guy with a golden hat. So, you mean our master teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, the master teacher is teaching humility in such a limp and lembek (malay word for ‘soft’ which is usually used to represent when someone does not have energy) way. I'm sorry, I think he was teaching more than that.

John 13:1-17

So, let's just have a look at the scripture passage that describes the event of foot washing. Alright, let us just look at the passage. You decide for yourself whether humility was the message or was it more than that? John 13 verse 1, “Now before the feasts of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He rises from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. (John 13:1-5)

Alright, the next part of the passage, I'll skip for the sake of time, and then I will continue, “Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I've done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” (John 13:13-17)

Alright, so we see here, the passage of scripture that describes the foot washing event. We had gone to a room to have the last meeting, so to speak. They had supper, and then before Jesus shares with them or summarizes with them, all that he has taught them, he stood up, took off his robes, laid it aside, basically down to his innerwear or underwear, took a piece of cloth, girded himself, just like a slave, just like a slave hood, took a basin, poured water in. And then he went and wash his disciples’ feet. Question, was this a symbolic act of humility? Or was it a necessary act of love? This is my question. Did he just do it for the sake of doing it, to send a message? Alright, to me, this is an act that is symbolic. I mean, why wash this guy's feet? His feet are cleaner than mine, to be honest. I mean, I wish I had toenails as well. He probably went to the manicurist or whatever. Alright, he probably went there and had it cleaned before they came. I think all of them probably went and had their toenails all beautifully cleaned. And then this guy comes in, wash their feet is like, oh, I don't have anything better to do? Is that what Jesus did that time? Is it like, okay, now, you know, so much time I'm going to die tomorrow on the cross, let's fill up some time. Let's wash on feet, teacher lesson by the way. Is that really what it was?

Alright, let's just look at the scenario of the room that they were in. Right? They were in a room. Whose room was it? Hey, before that night, Jesus sent his disciples, let me read it. “And He sent Peter and John saying go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said, and then where will thou that we prepare? They don't have a place, they don't have a permanent home, they don't have a church to go to. And he said unto them, behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water, follow him into the house where he entered in. And he shall say unto the good man of the house, the owner of the house. The Master says unto thee, where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he, the house owner shall show you a large Upper Room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover.” (Luke 22:8-13) Alright, so the background, is they didn't have a place to have their last supper. So, they went to borrow a place. So, someone said, “Okay, okay, use the upper room, it's okay. It's great. It's quite a nice place, you just prepare it, you can have a nice place.” So, on that night they had, they were not invited to a home, they were borrowing a room. So, what's that? Why are you laboring so long about it? Well, typically, in the days of Jesus, when you enter into a house, the host would first, before you enter the house, wash your feet. Now, typically, he will not do it himself. I mean, people had slaves those days, servants. And the slave, the lowest slave usually had the job of washing the feet of guests. Alright, just like in Singapore, before we enter houses, we take off shoes, that is the standard thing, you don’t just walk in. In those days, you don't just walk into a room, you have your feet wash. Now, of course, the situation's quite needful in those days. Reason? Those days, roads were not like now, they were not generally not paved. So, there were potholes. When it was rainy, it was muddy. When it was dry, it was dusty. And there was always animals’ stuff, poo (faeces) around because basically, they were passed all over places, sheep will be led out to the pasture, came back at night, cows were let out came back at night, and cows don't go to the toilet, they just dropped along the way. And so, what happens is, it's pretty much if you've ever been on a farm stay, you know what I mean? At night if you are on a farm stay bring a torch. Otherwise, you bring home souvenirs right on your shoes. So, in those days, people especially, suppertime would walk, and they pick up stuff along the way. So, as they enter the house, it was standard operating procedure, feet must be washed before you come in. Now to add to that incident, to add to that, is typical washing pots right for feet.

That's how they ate. Right? That's how they ate, their feet up, not down. If I would have cow dung on my feet and I'm quite smart, I can quietly even go to a five-star hotel quietly put my foot on everything. Why so stinko? You just act blur, and nobody would know. Alright, nobody's going to look under the table and check your shoes. But in those days, it was a little bit harder. People did not put their feet under, people put their feet on. That's how they ate. Right. So that was the standard. So, on this particular night, nobody had their feet wash. It was a borrowed room, they came up, their feet would not wash. But all the 12 disciples act blur, like I don't want to wash your feet. So, we all don't want to wash feet so our feet are not washed and they all went up there they lay down, probably very awkward throughout the supper. I mean, if you got dirty feet and you went to a friend's house, your feet on a carpet. You wonder. Let's get over, I want to get out fast, right? It's kind of embarrassing kind of awkward. I feel very uncomfortable. So that was what probably happened to the supper. And before Jesus said, Alright, supper is over. I'm now going to share with you all the lessons I've taught you. I'm going to summarize all this for you. I am going to crystallize three years of lessons. I want you to focus, but how can you focus when your feet are dirty? How can you focus when you say let's get over with this quickly, actually my feet very dirty. Alright, so what did Jesus do? Jesus said, “Alright, I will wash their feet.”

Okay, now some of you may say, “Pastor, I think you're a little bit imaginative. Maybe they did not sit that way after all every picture I saw, in the Last Supper, their feet were on the ground anyway, you know, painted by Western artists, nice table looks just like a table today, chairs like that.” But let's look at the way they ate in those days. Okay, let's just look at this one.

Luke 7:37-38

Luke 7, “And behold, a woman in the city”, another passage of scripture, right, “which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house,” that means ate his dinner at the Pharisees house, “brought an alabaster box of ointment and she stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head.” (Luke 7:37-38) Does that sound very funny? She stood at his feet behind him. Now if you're sitting on the floor, and I stand behind you, would you say I stood at your feet behind you? Does it make sense, right? Because if I stand behind you while you're sitting, I'm not behind your feet. I'm behind your head and behind your back and behind your backbone but not behind your feet, your feet in front, right? But if you look at this picture, it makes a lot of sense. Can you imagine the lady standing there? Stood at your feet behind him. Does it make sense? Right? Now let's go to the passage that we are now reading, John 13. How was Jesus seated? “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.” (John 13:22) I used to read this this way. Jesus was sitting just like us, and one of his disciples leaned across, put his head on Jesus’ bosom. Kind of weird. I always thought, this disciple is very weird. I mean, I will freak out if somebody did that to me. Alright. But if I'm sorry, can you now picture it? If this guy wants to talk to this lady, “where is the Roti Prata, why the waiter so slow?” Right? This guy wants to talk to this lady, this lady wants to talk to this guy. She just leans back. Literally leans back, “Hey, why you eat so much? Keep for the rest.” Right. So here, I hope you're getting the picture. The feet are not on the floor. Everybody was having their feet dangling, hopefully, not messing things up and feeling possibly very, very uncomfortable. So, what did Jesus do that night? Just walk around, wash feet for fun? They all had nice, beautiful clean feet on the floor and he say, “Hey, don’t mind, raise your food, I will wash your foot. Alright, done, you go.” You know, is that what Jesus said? A meaningless act? I don't think so.

Jesus met a real need

I think Jesus saw a need and he met a real need. Now to me, this was Jesus actually telling his disciples, you know, my entire life, the three years of ministry I've been with you, I have been doing more than just preaching, more than just teaching. I have actually been meeting needs every day. My whole life before I preach the gospel of love. I did acts of love. Before I told people that God loves you and cares for you personally, I did acts of love, showing that God indeed loves you personally, and cares for you. Jesus’ life and his message met. And Jesus was summarizing his whole life by this act this night. There is a need. And I am going to show you that as children of God, we meet needs because God met our greatest need on the cross. What did Jesus come for? What did Jesus come for? Tell people he is gone. No, he came because there was a need. We are sinners and Christ came to pay for our sins and meet the greatest need of our life and settle our sins and rise from the dead. In fact, that is all of Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew 4:23-24

Matthew chapter four describes his ministry. Alright, let's see his ministry, summarized in Matthew chapter four. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues in preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments. And those which were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy or were paralyze, and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)

What was Jesus’ ministry? Was he just like those gurus that come and share with you sayings? You sit at their feet, and they teach you things? Was he just a teacher? The preacher, what was he? What was his ministry? Meeting needs. They were sick, he healed them. They were crazy, he bought sanity to them. They were possessed, he got rid of the demons. I mean, to a sick guy, there is no point to teach about love if you don't help him in his sickness. Somebody said sick people have no ears, I have learnt that. You don't give a lecture to a guy who got run over by a car, his leg is broken. You say, “You cross the road, look left, look right.” He has no ears, sick people have no ears, hungry people have no ears. “Hey, God loves you,” but he's hungry. I'm sorry, hungry people don't have ears until you meet the needs, the ears pop up, the heart opens. Alright, and then you share the truth. That was Jesus’ entire ministry, meeting needs. Right? Sometimes people used to read and I used to read it that way. I said, you know, why did Jesus do all these miracles? He did all these miracles to prove that he was the son of God. That's how I used to read it. Then if I begin to think if Jesus was to prove he is the Son of God, just make the mountains jump? Right, he could have just come on earth, “You believe what I say?”, “No, you're a man. You're not the Son of God.” Mountain jump. 1, 2, 3. Easy, no effort for him. He can make the mountains jump. He could even do like the fountain in Sentosa according to music. But did he do that? That would be pointless. That was a show of power without purpose, like washing feet a show of humility without purpose. God is a God of purpose. You know, there is a tradition among the Catholics that Jesus when he was young, to prove that he was God made clay birds and then he made the clay birds fly. Did I believe that tradition? No, why? Because it's purposeless. What does it achieve? It's like washing clean feet, it is purposeless. What's the point?

Imagine next year we have Pastor Jason and all of you with court feet come here and he wash your feet. I think that's the most pointless exercise of all. What for? To show Pastor Jason is humble? He should just shave his head, right? Next week, wear one cloth around him, two shoulders bare. I crawl up here. Why so much trouble, right? No, I don't believe Jesus did it for no purpose. I believe he healed the sick because they needed to be healed, there was a need. He fed the hungry because they had a need. Because he was going to talk about God, the loving God, the caring God, the God who cares for us, and therefore he cared for people's needs. You go on and preach about the gospel of love and your life ignores the needs of people, let me tell you, your message and your life don't meet. And when life and message don't meet, you are a hypocrite. Period.

Ephesians 6:13-17

So here we see a verse that I struggled with for many years. Ephesians six is about the armor of God. And tells us the different pieces of the armor of God that we should wear. “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet”, This was the part I never understood, “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:13-17)

Why do I need to prepare for the gospel of peace? All my life, all I did was go out and preach the gospel, how to give tracks and knock on doors and told them about God's love. I go to everywhere I just preach the gospel. But here he tells me before you do that, there is something called the preparation of the gospel and it is symbolized in the armor as a pair of shoes. To me a pair of shoes means a journey, you wear a good pair of shoes, because you have a journey to go to. And generally, you don't wear a good pair of shoes and you don't care about your pair of shoes unless it's a long journey. I mean, you are going to go out to the post box and get your mail, you wear slippers or you go barefoot once, what is the big deal? But if you have a long journey, you have to carefully wear the right shoe so that you can take this journey, what is this journey called? This journey is called the preparation of the gospel of peace. What does it mean? It means that before I can share the gospel with anyone, there is a preparation needed. Before I share a God loves you, that Jesus died for your sins, He went on the cross and rose the third day for your sins. If I don't prepare, most times, they don't hear. I know that is your experience I am sure.

Every year Easter comes, and you invite your colleagues to come, so you take a stack from church, 10 of these gorgeously decorated invitations, come to our Easter service. Every year you give to 10 people every year, nobody comes. Why? Because you thought you go there, you give a track people come. I thought that you have to have a preparation for the gospel of peace. Hey, let me ask you a question. If someone of another faith comes to you in your office, “Hey, you want to come my mosque on Sunday,” “Hey, you come my temple every Sunday, we have a very interesting program.” Are you going to go? I think you're weird if you did. “Hey, why don’t you come and study my holy books. Come and study in my sutras.” “What, I am a Christian you know.” You know, and yet we do exactly the same thing with other people. We confront them, we go in and say, “Netcasters is one. I am trained in Netcasters, I am trained in the four spiritual laws. And you know, God loves you. You know you are a sinner, Jesus died on the cross.” I have done my job; I preached the gospel. Really? Sick people have no ears, hungry people have no ears. People of another faith have no appetite for what you tell them.

Wear those shoes. Wear those shoes. And Jesus was telling his disciples, you know, I'm doing this tonight I'm washing feet because I'm summarizing my whole ministry. My whole ministry, I met needs for three years. I didn't just come, he's the greatest preacher. He could easily have stood on a mountaintop and preached. But he didn't do that. Because you could preach like an angel, if the guy got no ears, he can't hear. Salvation belongs to God doesn't belong to us, building bridges belongs to us. The heart opening belongs to God, building bridges of love belong to us.

Let's see how some people have understood this verse. My favorite Ministry of all time in GLCC. 30 years in GLCC, I love this ministry, Chinese construction workers would come into Singapore in large numbers. How do we meet their needs? So, we began to think, Chinese construction workers work in the hot sun, sweat like crazy. They're not used to tropical heat. Many of them came from the Northeast of China, Shandong, where it is cold. A hair cut in those days cost $10, no $2.80 haircut in those days. What does a construction worker want, he wants short hair because it's hot, it's sweaty. And so construction workers came about 2 to 300 every Sunday. Why? Because we found a need. And we met that need. And every Sunday, I love it. There were foot washers, they were foot washers, this lady is a foot washer, right? Except the foot was here (at the head). You know, on that day, I was fascinated. Women will come in their BMWs and Mercedes. Living in multimillion-dollar houses would drive there and cut the smelly, I'm not exaggerating, sweaty hair of the construction workers. Now that's a foot washer to me. I love that. We found a need. And we met the need. It was not a symbolism of trying to be humble. No, it was also trying to be useful.

Let's look at another one I love. This takes place every Sunday. This afternoon you got nothing to do, just go to the road between lucky Plaza and the Rolex building called the Tong Building. That’s Mount Elizabeth Road. This afternoon they will be there. This girl is a very dear girl. She's an engineer. This girl is an architect. And they will lay their mats because what do you think Filipinos like? They don't want haircuts. They want fellowship. Filipinos are very sociable people. All Sunday, they got no one to talk to except the lao ah ma (old grandmother in Mandarin) at home. Alright. And on Sunday, they just want to chat and have fellowship, so they lay mats out, have snacks and they have wonderful fellowship. What do this engineer and this architect do? They wash feet. They are foot washers. And every Sunday, people come to church through this ministry, not because we are great preachers. You know an unbeliever cannot tell the difference from a good message and a bad message. Just like many of you cannot tell good Russian food from bad Russian food. And even if it's not Russian food, you thought it was Russian food. Now an unspiritual guy cannot tell the difference. Is the sermon good or not good? I don't know. But I tell you something, they met my needs. This is amazing. These girls, this engineer, this architect, willing to sit on the floor illegally. The police would come anytime. Hey, you're blocking the pavement. This is a public pavement. They're willing to look like domestic helpers. Why? Because their foot washers.

Another picture. I love this. What do Indian workers want? Haircut? No, they have nice curly hair. What they want is Indian food. They work in shipyards; they eat canteen food. Canteen food is prepared by Singaporeans. You interview any of these Indians and say how is the canteen food? No taste, no taste pastor. So, what we do we make good taste. Every Sunday we have a pot that we could put the biggest fellow here in this church. Any of you guys could go in there I could boil you and you could almost sit comfortably in the pot. You think one pot? No, three or four pots. What did we do? We wash feet. In this sense we wash their feet here. Sometimes we wash their feet there, alright. The point is you find a need. These poor guys miss food, all week they eat this horrible Chinese food. And even though this Indian food is prepared by Chinese people who haven't a clue, right? Give them what they need. Every slide I showed you is an example of washing feet. What is washing feet? Find a need, be it in their belly, be it in their hair, be it wanting to play basketball or wanting to speak English or grow tomatoes or whatever, meet it.

That night Jesus saw a need, what did the 12 disciples do? Act blur, pretend didn't see, because when you see you got problems, you have to fix it. “AB,” someone said today, “Pastor, we are Singaporean all AB, Act Blur” and she went on to say, “Act blur, live long.” Alright later I'll show you wrong.

Now some of you will come up with this. “Pastor, if we try to help everybody, people got need we help, they take advantage of us you know. You see your helper at home. She's a new, coming from Indonesia, you tried to be kind, show her how the microwave work. You tried to be too kind. You know what pastor; she will take advantage of you. You help people they will take advantage of you. And then some more you look like a fool.” It's true, sitting on Orchard Road today at five o'clock on the pavement you look like a fool. Why would you want to do that? How many of you want to look like fools? Nobody.

John 13:3

Now I like this passage of Scripture. Let's go back to John 13. And I always wondered why these bold words here were put in into this passage of feet washing. Kind of weird to me alright, let me look at it. “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he has come from God and went to God. He rose up and wash feet.” (John 13:1-4) Why was this put in there? Do you mean before this Jesus didn't know he was come from God? He didn't know that all things that God had was his? Was it like Jesus, only on the last night on earth, “Oiyo, I came from God? Wow, I'm so happy.” Of course not. He knew all along he came from God, why was this put into this passage, one moment before the foot washing? Because you cannot humble yourself to be a nobody until you know who you are.

If I sit on the road, people might think I'm a maid, you know? I say, “Police will come you know. They think I am an illegal.” Unless you know who you are, you don't care what people think. Are you with me? You know, a lot of times you worry what people will think of us. We're very worried about that. Because we're not sure who we are. If you know who you are, you don't care what people think about you. I know who I am. The police may not know who I am. The passersby may not know who I am. The fellow I helped may not know who I am. But I know who I am. I'm a child of God and nobody can take that away from me. Nobody. I've trusted Jesus, He died for my sins, I'm adopted into his family, and nobody can pluck him out of my hands. I am eternally a child of God. And you can think anything you like about me. That's fine. That's your problem, not mine. Are you with me? You cannot be a servant. You cannot be willing to be a slave. You cannot be willing to serve the lowest until you know who you are in God. For many people, their identity is not from who they are in God, is what people think of them. Then you will never be a servant. You want to be tao ge (which means boss in Hokkien). You want to wear your gold watch, your big car and so people know who I am. I know who I am, I hope you do. You are not sure if you are a child of God, settle it today. Trust him as your Savior and you are a child of God. Trust in Jesus who died for your sins.

Alright, another important point, “I help people I lose out you know, they take advantage of me. You be kind to people, you help people, you lose.” Really? Says who? My friend told me I help my maid; she takes advantage of me. You believe your friend, or you believe God? What does God say? Last line, if you know these things, happier you know, today, you all know already but you won't be happy until you do them. (referring to John 13:17) If you know these things, they won't make you happy. But if you do these things that you know and be willing to wash feet, happy are you. I will lose out you know. Says who? Your learned friends, your experienced friends? Well, let me tell you what your God said, you will be happy. And isn't that what we are all looking for? Isn't that why we go through so much struggle in life to be happy? Well, you want to know the formula to be happy. Wash feet. Take God at His Word. This God I trusted for 30 years over has never led me down. His promise, every promise of his is true. It's not whether his promise is true, it is whether you trust Him, and you try it today.

What is a ‘foot-washer’?

So ultimately, what is a foot washer? He is a Christian who is willing to look for needs and meet those needs. Are you? You say, “Pastor, I do not cook curry. I don't play basketball. I can’t teach English. So what do I do?” Start right here. Start right here. Walk around, when you come to church, you will find people who have needs right here. For example, a newcomer always has needs, you can always identify a newcomer, simply by the way he walks, he's not sure is this the door to the bathroom or the auditorium. You can tell a newcomer when everybody's drinking coffee, he's drinking by himself. And yet, you know what the average gospel lighter does? Act blur. That guy is a newcomer, is it? Is it? Well done. AB man. I may be many things, but I'm not blur. Don't try that on me alright. You know, but you don't want to identify the need because when you do, you have a responsibility. There are people who are shy, they have a need, they take a long time to get into a group. Introduce them. Next week, introduce them again. Next week, introduce them again. Because the need is still there. One day, they will get a breakthrough. There are foreigners here who feel a little out of place. It's just natural. What do you do? Do you meet any? Help them? It looks at the curry puff, what is that? Of course, everyone knows that's a curry puff except this guy. Right? And you say, that's a curry puff, it is spicy. You like spicy food? And then you have a friend already. Anytime you can meet needs right here. Are you willing? Are you willing? Not that we are blur, we act blur. Right? In the office, same thing, some are socially struggling, some are challenged in their job, some take a long time to pick things up, some don't understand your boss accent, some are intimidated by your boss, whatever. There are needs. All you have to do is identify them and meet those needs. Nothing complicated. Nothing. That's why Jesus washed feet. It was so simple. It's not a case of any of the disciples couldn't wash feet, it was they were not willing to do it. That act was available to all. It was the simplest act, the lowest slave could do it, but the average Christian doesn't want to be a slave. You see, so Jesus on that night was teaching servanthood, what is servanthood? What is a good servant in your mind? Someone who knows your needs, the boss come back, that is what you do. The dog barks, that is what you should do. The floor is dirty that is what a servant does. He sees needs, he meets them, he meets them, he meets them and we talked about we are servants of God. Oh servant servant servant, we learned 50 different things about servanthood, servant leader, whatever. When it comes to a simple thing like meeting a need, wait.

Conclusion

What is our prayer today? Our prayer today is don't act blur. There is a world of needs around us. It is not about dirty feet; it is about dirty lives. It is not about messy feet; it is about messy lives. Everywhere around us there are needs. And when you see it, you say, “Lord, I see a need. Help me to build a bridge.” And one day, that message of love will cross upon a beautifully built bridge. May God help us as a church. People come to church and after great effort to bring someone to church, the guy comes to church, feels out of place, feels 1000 people walk by him as if he doesn't exist. With great effort he is brought to church and that's the last time he will be here because 1000 people act blur. Alright, may God help us. May we be a church that says I'm looking for needs and God help me to be a blessing to someone.

Prayer

Let's pray. Father, thank you for showing us that washing feet was not a meaningless act of humility. Not an act of making clay birds to fly. But you washing feet was a meaningful act that summarize your entire life on Earth, that summarize your entire ministry of seeing people with great needs and meeting them. Lord, we pray, we in this church who know a lot of stuff about Jesus, who know the Bible, who know the memory verses and know the theology. Help us, Lord, to live that simple life of Jesus. See a need, meet a need, and show God's love. Help us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.