Randy McCarthy
Subject: Memorials | Wisdom of God vs. the Foolishness of the World
Referenced Scriptures: Joshua 3:15-17, 4:1-7, 1Kings 3:1-15, 16-28
Podcast: Download (Duration: 27:45 — 7.9MB)
Note: Sermon before May Communion Service
Washing of the Saints Feet
April 14, 2013
By: Elder Allen Daniels
Washing of the Saints feet is not an ordinance, but it is an example set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ; however, it is a very strong example. There are some Primitive Baptist Churches which do not believe that this should be a literal practice, but is only a symbolic example of humility. Historically speaking, feet washing has not been made a test of fellowship in our churches; nevertheless, the question still remains, how can any serious minded student of the Bible fail to understand the plain words of Scripture as spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ?
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, “Know ye what I have done to you? 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 ye should do as I have 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 13:12-17.
My question to those who oppose this practice is how can one follow the Lord’s example without a pan of water and a towel? Jesus said, “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 ye should do as I have done to you.”
In most all Primitive Baptist Articles of Faith we find similar language as this: “We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ, and that feet washing is an example, a duty, connected with the supper, and that true believers are the only subjects of either and should be practiced by the churches; and that baptism by immersion is the apostolic mode”.
I have been asked this question, “If you were at a Primitive Baptist Church and it was communion time and you knew they did not wash feet would you commune?” It is my firm conviction that this example of humility should be followed, but if we do not believe it is an ordinance nor a test of fellowship, are we not making it such if we refuse to commune with those who do not practice it? There are several good Primitive Baptist Churches that do not wash feet. I have been invited to be in their communion services several times (and have accepted). I have to personally admit that there is an empty feeling (something missing) by not continuing in the feet washing service, but in reality, the loss is in those who do not do it. Jesus said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
There are also some Primitive Baptist Churches who make washing of the saint’s feet an ordinance, and consequently, a test of fellowship. I would never say they are wrong in refusing to communion with those who do not practice feet washing, but if we do not believe it is an ordinance and not a test of fellowship, then why not accept the invitation and use it as an opportunity to teach the weak in a better way?
Objections to Feet Washing in the Church
Objection #1: It is only mentioned once by Jesus in the 13 Chapter of John. If it was to be practiced by the New Testament Church, then why did not Matthew, Mark, or Luke also mention it?”
My answer:
How many times does our Lord and Master have to tell one of His disciples that they ought or should do a thing. These two words (ought and should) when spoken by our Lord carry a very heavy weight. When I was a boy and my dad told me I should/ought to do a certain thing, my not doing it very often carried severe consequences. How much more should/ought we to obey our Lord’s commandments. In the Greek, these words are very similar in meaning. The Greek word for ought is opheileo (of-i-leh’-o) and means to owe a debt, figuratively, to be under moral obligation, or behoove, must, should, duty. The word should in the context of John 13:15 is linked to the word do (ye should do as I have done to you) and is the single Greek word poieo ( poy-eh’-o) which carries the meaning to commit or perform without any delay. Therefore, to put it in the context of John 13:14-15, the passage could be rendered, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also are under moral obligation to follow my example and to perform your duty without any delay to wash one another’s feet.”
Objection #2: Most will agree that feet-washing was practiced by certain NT believers, but not by the church in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper. It was just an old Jewish custom practiced in the homes.
My answer:
I think the Apostle Paul answers this objection in his instruction to Timothy as to the responsibility of the Church concerning widows (see 1Timothy 5:3-10). Notice verse 3, “Honour widows that are widows indeed.” In the verses following, Paul identifies those widows. First he identified those who do not qualify for care by the Church, Verse 4, “But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.” In this verse, he sets forth a principle that has been much neglected in today’s society, that is, it is the responsibility of children to the third generation (children, grandchildren, and nephews) to take care of the aged widows. He magnifies this responsibility in verse 8, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than as infidel.”
Now please notice verses 9 and 10, “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, (10) Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work”. In the context of this passage the phrase “taken into the number” means the Church. This point is further verified by verse 16: “If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.” The “widows indeed” are clearly identified as the responsibility of the Church.
My point here is this, if the washing of the feet here is referring only to an old Jewish custom practiced in the homes to clean the dirty feet of their guests, then please answer me the following questions:
- Why did Paul make it a responsibility of the Church to take care of “widows indeed”?
- Why would this “common custom” make her any different than any other widow?
- Why would Paul identify those feet that were being washed as “the saints’ feet“?
- Does not the “the saints’ feet” identify them as Church members?
- Does not this imply that “washed of the saints’ feet” is a practice (custom) of the church in following the Lord’s example set forth in John 13?
- If feet washing was only an old Jewish custom, then why did Peter (himself being a Jew) reply thusly to Jesus? “Thou shalt never wash my feet.”
- Do Primitive Baptist women wash the feet of saints who visit in their home?
- Shouldn’t disciples of Jesus Christ desire to follow the Lord’s example? “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 ye should do as I have done to you.”
In conclusion, this was not to be merely symbolic, because Jesus didn’t say, “you ought to be humble before one another,” but He said, “you ought to wash one another’s feet.” I think it is significant in 1 Timothy 5:10 that Paul uses the words ” brought up children, lodged strangers, and relieved the afflicted ” for the other activities, and then uses the word “saints” for the washing of the feet? It is my opinion, that his using the word “saints” instead of “guests” implies that the widow has been an active church member in her younger days, participating in communion and feet-washing, and her long and humble service of love to the saints in the church should now provoke the younger saints to honor and care for her. This should not be considered by them as a matter of compensation, but of dutiful love. If one who names Jesus as his Lord and Master is objecting and resisting this practice simply because it is an old out dated tradition of the Primitive Baptist, then his objection is to the inspired Word of God.
Published: 2013-04-14 by WAD
Communion | Foot Washing
November 4, 2012
Allen Daniels read from our Articles of Faith (#1-6) and spoke about Communion.
Referenced Scriptures: [1Corinthians 11:1-3, 1Corinthians 11:17-32]
Mark Wattenbarger spoke about Foot Washing
Text: John 13:4-15
Podcast: Download (Duration: 30:30 — 8.6MB)
Keith West & Randy McCarthy
October 28, 2012
Randy McCarthy
Introduction: Haggai
Text: Haggai 2:1-9
Keith West
Subject: The Lord’s Model Prayer
Text: Luke 11:1, Matt 6:5-13
Randy McCarthy
Subject: Communion
Text: 1Cor 11:17-34
Podcast: Download (Duration: 42:02 — 11.9MB)
Randy McCarthy
May 6, 2012
Randy McCarthy
Subject: Communion
Text: John 6:1-35, 53-58
Podcast: Download (Duration: 22:51 — 7.4MB)
Randy McCarthy
November 6, 2011
Supper with Jesus
February 13, 2011
By: Elder Bill McCarthy
Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. John 12:1-2.
Here we read of a supper prepared for Jesus by Martha and attended by Lazarus following his miraculous resurrection. A week before the Passover, Jesus traveled to Bethany where Martha prepared the supper perhaps as a way of showing loving appreciation for the extraordinary gift of life for her brother. After all, it’s not an every day occasion to have a loved one pulled from the grave to live again.
Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus and others, so I wonder whether a conversation might have gone something like this: “So, Lazarus,” says one of the guests, “how does it feel to be alive, and how did it feel to die?” Death is a great enemy with which the living has much curiosity.
So, let’s just say that Lazarus had written a book entitled, “My Life, Death and Resurrection” and subtitled “My Return From The Grave.” Do you suppose that might make the best seller list? The way people buy books on everything today, no matter how insignificant the subject, wouldn’t we expect a book by Lazarus to top the Best Seller lists? Who among us remembers the best selling book and movie some 50 years back about the claimed reincarnation of Bridey Murphy, a woman who under hypnosis recalled her resurrection some two hundred years earlier? The Bridey Murphy story was later debunked, but the huge sales of her story showed how people are drawn to stories about the mysteries of death, and Lazarus sure could tell a personal story like none other!
We have no way of knowing whether the question of how it felt to die and live again was raised at that supper for Jesus, as we only know what was recorded at the behest of the Holy Spirit, and if God had wanted us to have more of the details of Lazarus’ resurrection, we must conclude that He would have written more about it in John.
But, think about it. What an experience it must have been to attend a supper at which among those present was one who had recently died, been buried and miraculously pulled back to this side of eternity to walk again among mortal mankind. However, Lazarus was not the story, not the headliner, as that role would then and always be for Jesus who (at the time of the supper) was known widely for the spectacular feat of raising Lazarus from the dead. And the fame of Jesus would grow far beyond the Lazarus incident, for he himself would later arise from the grave and tell John the Revelator, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Rev. 1:18.
Yet, had the question of passing from life to death and back been raised at this supper, I tend to think that Jesus (who would hold the keys of hell and death) would have the questioner to not dwell on death (possibly adding, ‘don’t worry about death, I’m going to take care of that for you’), but on life. Perhaps Jesus would have reminded the guests that, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6.
It is to Jesus, alive for evermore, to whom we direct questions of life and death, not to Lazarus, who would die carnally again. The real source of life, Christ Jesus, lived, died and lived again, now for evermore. Yes, Jesus lives today.
Now, briefly, I would like to tell about a long time family friend named Marie, a gentle and kind woman. We had known Marie for quite some time and so we were shocked when we learned that Marie had been diagnosed as having cancer. The very mention of the “C-word”, often a euphemism for the “D-word”, commands sobering attention. We humans aren’t very good at dealing with the directness that life can present, and we often seek to avoid it.
Conditioning of mind and expectation has a great deal to do with how we are equipped to handle life, and of course, death. With the repugnancy of death, or as the poet might say, with the stench of death permeating the air we breathe, we tend to walk gingerly around one who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Not so with our friend Marie. Like Lazarus, Marie had had supper with Jesus many times as she participated in her church’s communion services. Like Lazarus, Marie knew Jesus personally, as he was a longtime friend and familiar figure in Marie’s household.
For you see, Marie, though diagnosed with cancer many months back, was the sort of person who just made you comfortable to be around, even with that dreaded cancer. Everyone loved Marie for her exuberance, cheerfulness and joy for living; she had become a brilliant symbol of life itself, walking evidence that cancer is powerless when encountering a heart full of love.
But cancer was feasting on Marie, and like others before and after her, the external signs of the internal carnage could not be denied. Marie was dying, and all her loving, praying family and church friends were resigned to that. But, hang it all, death might take her bodily, but it wasn’t going to take her spirit, for like Lazarus, Marie knew the one with power over death, Jesus, who had told Marie, ‘fear not, I have conquered death.’
So when the cancer treatments had taken Marie’s beautiful locks, she simply put on a hat and went to church. If you had known Marie you would have known wearing that hat was an embarrassment to her, not by way of vanity, but because she was reluctant to give even that small concession to her dreaded enemy disease. She knew she would be the only woman in the congregation wearing a hat, for the hat fashion days for women had long passed. But the alternative, sitting hairless among her church sisters, was less palatable. For you see, it wouldn’t have even crossed her mind to skip church, even for cancer!
So Marie donned her hat, and she and her lifelong sweetheart husband set forth to attend worship services one early Sunday morning, as they had been doing all their married lives. What a great surprise it was when they arrived to find that many ladies there that morning were wearing hats! Yep, most every woman in that church building on that Sunday morning was wearing a hat!
Seems there was a conspiracy among the ladies. Word had gotten around via the well used grapevine that it was bothering Marie to have to attend church wearing a hat. So first one lady and then another, until they agreed, if Marie had to wear a hat, so would they. So started a tradition among Marie’s friends that ended with cancer’s temporary victory, when it took Marie’s life. (But a reliable source reports that the ladies’ hats stand ready should they ever be necessary again for a struggling soul.)
For you see, Christian saints don’t resort to euphemisms when speaking of death, whatever its form – whether from dreaded cancer, the suddenness of a heart attack, a horrific traffic accident. For the godly saints trusting in Him, death has lost its sting and the grave its victory. For we sing with the apostle, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians take life straight up, thank you! Strike that, and make it, thank you, Jesus! And Marie? She and Lazarus are now in the eternal presence of Jesus, awaiting the final resurrection. During their walks through life’s way here on earth, they had this in common – they had the peace of God that passeth all understanding. And something in me wonders whether Marie has said to Lazarus, ‘isn’t it great to be alive?!’
Published: 2011-02-13 by BDM