The Gospel of John

Know Ye What I Have Done To You

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 44- 70

Genre:

Track: 044

Dictation Name: RR197Y46

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good tidings, that publisheth peace. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father we thank Thee that Thou hast given so great a promise in Christ Jesus. We thank Thee that Thou hast not let us alone but through Thy spirit has made us Thy own habitation. We thank Thee Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all Thy providential care and the blessings with which Thou dost surround us. Make us joyful in Thee, confident in our blessed hope and ever strong in Thy service. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is from John 13:12-20. Our subject: Know Ye What I Have Done To You. Know Ye What I Have Done To You, John 13:12-20.

“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?

13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

16 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.

17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”

After washing the disciple’s feet and then reclothing himself because He had put off His outer tunic our Lord resumed His place at the dinner table. He asked His disciples a searching question, know ye what I have done to you? Knowing that He would leave them shortly He was challenging them to understand the meaning of His ministry and theirs. The difference between what He and His kingdom represent as against the kingdoms of this world is power versus service. Twenty centuries of Christianity have left their mark on the world. The modern power state seeks to gain credit as a service date by means of welfarism and like strategies. The Roman state made no bones about their welfarism, they wanted to keep the mobs quiet and nothing else. They did not care whether they lived or died. These concerns of the modern state for the poor and the needy are devices to gain and maintain power too commonly. So that the modern state is still pagan at heart. Now a state or church or any organization but most notably church and state can be either ministerial or legislative. What is the difference? To be ministerial is to be totally subordinate to and subject to the word of God, to God’s law word and for the state it is to be His ministry of justice which was the old term for civil government. What a state or a church can be legislative, making its own laws, as though it itself were the fount of justice, and the church also can be legislative, creating laws out of thin air whereby to rule people, creating its own ideas of law and justice.

The modern state is openly legislative. It has usurped God’s preogrotive of determining law and justice. And too often the modern church has become legislative. It will openly say that of course the bible says thus and so but in our modern enlightened era we’re not bound by that, we will establish the law for this particular sphere. Our Lord’s question of the twelve disciples who are the patriarchs of God’s new Israel replacing the twelve tribes of Israel requires them to see the meaning of the gospel. First, the necessity for the atonement had already been stressed. A new humanity, a new human race was to be created in and for the Christ. Second, this new humanity would not follow the tempter’s plan but would serve God and under God serve man. This means a faithfulness to every jot and tittle of God’s law word. Then our Lord continues to say:

“13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.”

Master which has reference to teaching, a master of teaching, means here that He is the true interpreter of the word of God. It would be better if this were read ‘ye call me the master and the lord and ye say well, for so I am’. If I am the Lord and the Master, Jesus said in effect, then you are my servants. So, if I am your lord and master and have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. Service one to another is a debt and a duty in Christ. In 1st Timothy 5:10 the qualification for a member of the order of widows includes a reputation for good works, washing the feet of the saints, relieving the afflicted and following every good work.

Foot washing is no longer a literal need but the concept of human service remains. Here it is a requirement of the leaders in church and kingdom. Jesus then continues:

“5 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”

It is not the literal reproduction of Jesus’ action in foot washing that is commanded because he does not command us to do what I have done to you but even as I have done in the same spirit to render service. Not ritual but Christian service in humility is required. 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. Now this is obviously an important statement because our Lord makes it four times in all in the gospels. We find it in Matthew 10:24, we find it in Luke 6:40 and here and then on another occasion in John 15:20. Our Lord redefines authority. Instead of raw power and prestige it means the union of moral authority with status. So status is no longer power but Godly service. If ye know these things our lord went on to say happy are ye if you do them. Earlier the disciples had been arguing about who should have the highest position in the kingdom of God which they expected of course that he should establish then and there in Judea. The mother of [unknown]’s children boldly made a request for power and position for her sons and this angered the disciples. Our Lord then plainly stated that ministry and service establish status in His kingdom. The issue was thus not a new one, it had been dealt with more than once. Our Lord’s foot washing simply illustrated what He had earlier been teaching them.

This statement is a beatitude, happy or blessed, the words have the same meaning, are ye if ye do them. This is an important statement because scripture clearly identifies happiness with what we call blessedness, we’ve separated the two, but in the language of the New Testament they are identical. So the biblical view of happiness is very different from that commonly held to be happiness today. Blessed or happy are ye if ye do these things, what I have commanded. So the whole conception of what constitutes happiness is radically at odds with our modern world. Then we are told this does not fit all of you disciples, I speak not of you all. One of you who has eaten bread with me and lived in communion with me hath lifted up his heel against me. To lift up the heel means lawless intemperate and hateful violence. Eaten bread with me can also be translated ‘eaten my bread’. Jesus as Lord provides for those of His royal household. To eat His bread as a member of His family and then to betray Him is treason. We have lost the sense of communion that goes with every meal. In many parts of the world into this century the only way you could have safety when you went into a strange area was to have someone who would befriend you by inviting you to sit down at his table. To share a meal was to become a part of that family and they would protect you. So that this is an important aspect of what our Lord is here saying. We are members of His family and we make members of our family all those whom we break bread.

But our Lord says I know whom I have chosen either for service or for perdition. So that what Judas was about to do came as no surprise to Him however much the disciples may have been shocked. All was in fulfillment of the scriptures. Now I tell you before it come that when it is come you may believe that I am He. Jesus tells them of the treachery before the event so that when the disciples would realize that He knew Judas from the beginning they would know that His sovereign purpose governs and underwrites all things. It would be a witness to the total knowledge and power of their Lord all things came from Him and all things in every age come from Him, are ordained by Him and are a part of His sovereign purpose. Verily, verily I say unto you he that recieveth whomsoever I send recieveth me and he that recieveth me recieveth Him that sent me, that is the Father. Our Lord had made this same statement earlier in Matthew 10:40 when He had sent the disciples out to heal and to preach. To receive His faithful apostles is to receive not the men who go out but the messengers of Christ the King. If they faithfully proclaim His gospel to receive them is to receive Jesus Christ whose embassaries they are. In verse eighteen our Lord declares I know whom I have chosen. His predestination covers all men, Judas as well as the faithful saint. It is He that upholds us so that to look to our resources when we are under attack is to trust in the frailest of stores. To receive Christ’s messengers is to receive Him and to receive Christ is to receive the Father. In verse nineteen Jesus tells them that He has told the disciples these things that when they come to pass the disciples may believe more accurately that I am.

He is the God revealed in scripture, He is the Lord and yet now He is also the sacrifice, the lamb of God, come to make atonement for the sins of the world and yet king over all the kings of this world, the Lord over all Lords, very God of very God. Know ye what I have done to you, I have placed you in a position of service whereby ye will receive, you will reveal who you are by what you do and you shall be blessed, happy. That word is a key word here, come, join me in my service, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel or proclaim it in your area. If you do this happy are ye, blessed are ye. When we realize that those two words have the same meaning it gives us another perspective on what it means to be a saint in Christ. We are all by virtue of our conversion saints, we are so addressed throughout the /new Testament. Paul writes to the saints in this church and that church, the members because that is their calling. Their calling is not to wear a halo and to have their hands folded in a perpetual image of sanctity but it is to be happy in the victory that is theirs in Christ. Let us pray.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that our Lord is indeed king of kings and Lord of Lords and He has called us to happiness, blessedness in Him, in His service. Service to our Lord and service one to another. Bless us in this our calling, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes if they are not doing the work that they are called to, they are not going to be happy, they are going to be malcontents and they will dwell on every evil thing and wrong thing that they can and it is interesting that in Revelation three, I believe it is, or is it two….I think it’s verse twenty one, 2:21 I believe, no that’s not it. It’s twenty four, yes.

“But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.”

That is a very important passage because what our Lord is there condemning is those who study and it can be rendered, the deep things of Satan, the conspiracies in other words, they are conspiracy buffs. They are documenting evil, they can tell you about the horrible things that are going on in the world and not the great things of God. And unhappily we live in a time when so many people who consider themselves good people are like the church people in Thyatira. They are not showing the works that they are called upon to manifest, therefore they are not happy, they are not blessed, they are always sore because they are always meditating on evil. Any other questions or comments?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] We live in a time when the center of everything is the individual. As a result the criterion for many people whether you are a Christian or not is what have you done for me lately. And they’ll break with you over the slightest thing and turn on you because they are the center, not the faith. And this kind of egocentricity is so prevalent today that it’s almost like an epidemic in the church and out of the churches. Any other questions or comments? Well if not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, it has been good for us to be here for Thy word is truth and Thy grace is mercy to us and in all things Thou art ever mindful of us and Thy purpose for us is our blessedness, our happiness in Christ. Give us ever increasing confidence and joy and peace in Him. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.