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All of this He did without one word of explanation, except to curb the impetuosity of Simon Peter. Then He said, “ I have given you an example.” What an example! I believe it was not given for the church as an ordinance. When humility goes on display, it ceases to be humility. Love never parades. It is a glorious example of a precious, eternal and abiding principle which is to govern the lives of His disciples for all time. Real love will see it through. Would you be great? Would you sit at His right hand in the kingdom? Would you triumph? Would you gain favor with God? Then you must pray for a love that will send you to your knees to wash the dirty feet of unworthy disciples. None of that group offered to wash His feet! May those blessed nail-pierced feet be washed with our tears, and may that love which loves to the uttermost fill our hearts and saturate our lives. God help us to see it through. This be our prayer.
By Rev. Douglas M. White Pastor, First Baptist Church, Bassett, Virginia “Having loved His ovm which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). T HE phrase “unto the fend,” if taken to mean only the extent of His love (that He continued to love them right up to the last moment before going to the cross), 'does not begin to do justice to the truth involved in this great passage. The thought expressed here is not merely the constancy, but rather the intensity of Christ’s love for His own; not the length so much as the strength of it. “Unto the uttermost” is more revealing: He loved to the highest possible degree. In other words, He loved them superlatively. As Dr. Campbell Morgan suggests, “Having loved his own”— He saw it through. Real love— the kind which Jesus exemplified—will prove itself by seeing it through. On the eve of His greatest trial, with the shadow of the cross already falling across His countenance, the thoughts of Jesus were not for Himself. His only concern was to prepare His disciples for this thing which would shatter their hopes and crush their hearts. His love for them exceeded His con cern for Himself, though the bitter cup was even then being lifted to His lips. With the cross immediately confronting Him, He took the basin and the towel and performed the menial task, thus giving a final and glorious demonstration of His claim that He “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life.” Not long before this there had been a dispute among the ditciples as to which of them would be greatest in the king- d n, which they supposed was to be immediately set up. Jesus si ¡ntly demonstrated the pathway to true greatness, as He wtshed their feet. He saw it through. There were some bigoted, straight-laced men in that group, luey had severely rebuked a man for serving the Lord, be cause he did not wear their label and report to their desk. Jesus stooped and washed their feet. He saw it through. There were the sons of thunder. They wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans who rejected their Lord. Jesus stooped and washed their feet. He saw it through. There was Thomas, the doubter. Within seventy-two hours he would say, “I will not believe unless I see.” Jesus stooped and washed his feet. He saw it through. There was Peter, the denier. Within twelve hours all his vociferous boasting would come to nought as he cursed and swore and denied his very acquaintance with his Lord. Jesus stooped and washed his feet. He saw it through. Yea, every believer in that company, having glibly endorsed the sentiments of Peter, forsook Christ and fled from His presence. Nevertheless Jesus stooped and washed their feet, every one. He saw it through. There was Judas, the arch traitor. Already the foul covenant had been made; the thirty pieces of silver had soiled his hands and sealed his doom. Within three hours he would plant that treacherous kiss (the salutation of love) upon the cheek of the Lord of Glory, thus betraying and selling Him out for the price of a slave. Jesus even stooped and washed his feet. HE SAW IT THROUGH. There is another significant word in our text. “Jesus, KNOWING that His hour had come”— He washed their feet. Not only did He know that the time of His departure via the cross was at hand, but He knew every thought in every heart there, and He knew what they were about to do. He knew all about them. He knew their weakness, their selfishness, their unbelief, their spinelessness, their treachery, their utter failure, but He did not scold. No, He washed their feet. He did it, not in spite of their failure and depravity, but because of it. He saw it through. That is real love. Sentiment would save Him from the cross, but love drives Him to it. Sentiment would cry out for sympathy, love causes Him to stoop and wash their sinful, hypocritical feet. Page Sixteen
W orld A irways m M A BOVE is a photograph of Dr. Louis T. Talbot (left), President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and Editor in Chief of The King’s Business, and Dr. Paul R. Bauman (right), professor of archaeology at Grace Theo logical Seminary, Winona Lake, Indiana, taken on the eve ning of September 12th as their airliner was about to take off, bearing them to distant lands in the interest of world wide missions. Dr. Talbot is making this arduous, and perhaps, hazard ous, journey at the request of the Board of Directors of the Bible Institute. He will be gone about three months, visit ing the fields where the graduates of the Institute are labor ing, in order to observe at first hand the needs of the heathen and the efforts of the missionaries to meet those needs. His purpose is not only to determine the kind of preparation most essential for misssionary candidates, but also to secure technicolor moving pictures which upon his return will be shown throughout this country as a means of challenging young people for Christ. This missionary itinerary includes Hawaii, Japan, China, the Philippines, Java, Borneo, Singapore, Thailand, Iraq, India, Palestine, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, England, and many other places. Prayer is requested for these intrepid travelers, that God may bring them back safely and use this journey mightily for the furtherance of the missionary enterprise. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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