For most of my Christian experience I was taught and I taught others that church was primarily a place to go to serve, to use your gifts, to bless others. “You don’t go to church to be served but to serve!” This became for me a mantra that I championed for many years as a pastor. I felt it was my duty to deconstruct the “consumer” mentality that so many American Christians seemed to espouse. This emphasis to do something for God actually sells very well in our pragmatic culture. You can rally an army of eager Christians who busy themselves with things to do believing themselves to be living radically for God. In fact, like Peter, we find it very difficult to allow Jesus to serve us (John 13:6). However, I believe that Jesus would say to us what he said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (vs. 8).

Certainly the Church ought to be a place where Christians are using their gifts for the good of their neighbor. The NT is full of “one another” imperatives and after washing the disciple's feet Jesus tells his original disciples to follow his example and “wash one another’s feet.” (vv. 14-17) We miss the thrust of this passage however if we lose sight of the fact that at the heart of this command is the ongoing need for the Christian to allow Jesus to wash their own feet. The Christian, according to Jesus, is already clean but has need of a perpetual spiritual cleansing that while already accomplished has ongoing implications as we continue to battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil................