"From the Knees of Jesus"

By Terry R. Townsend

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 13:13-17.

Have you ever stopped to consider the many lessons taught by our Lord from His knees? From His knees he taught His disciples to be studious (Mark 2:46-47), sensible (John 8:6-7), submissive (Matt. 26:39) and selfless (Matt. 27:26).

On one occasion, as He washed his disciples feet, He taught an all important lesson relative to Christian servitude (John 13:11). What lessons do we learn from our Lord as He knelt to wash the feet of His followers?

First, He taught us that the best cure for discouragement is in serving others (John 13:1-5). Jesus knew what lay ahead (betrayal, denial, pain, suffering, death) yet, He did not allow self-pity to enslave Him. His focus was on serving others. Trials are part of every person’s life, and the best way to extinguish feeling sorry for ourselves is in serving others (1 Kings 19:1; Isa. 6:1-9).

Secondly, He taught us that compassion should be extended to all men, including our enemies (John 13:6-11). Imagine the human side of Deity as He knelt to wash the feet of Judas Iscariot, the one who would soon betray Him (Matt. 26:14-15). Despite his evil intent, Jesus washed his filthy feet. Why? Because He still loved him? Our Lord's desire is that we love all men, including those who may wrong us. "Ye have heard that it hash been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matt. 5:43-44; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:17-21).

Thirdly, He taught us that we are never too good to serve others (John 13:12-16). Feet washing was one of the lowest forms of service that could be given an individual of the First Century. It was usually a task reserved for slaves. But there was the King of kings and Lord of lords kneeling down, towel in hand, taking on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:3-8). What a lesson for those who had earlier debated as to who would be the greatest (Luke 22:24; Mark 9:34-35)! Jesus taught that the greatest in the kingdom would be any and all who would humbly serve.

Finally, He taught us that true happiness is found in servitude (John 13:17). The word "happy" carries with it the idea of being supremely blest, fortunate, and well-off as it relates to doing God's will. It's not enough to hear, understand, and approve what is right. One must also do it (Matt. 7:21; Jas. 1:25). Why are so many people in the world unhappy? It's because they are not serving God or their fellow man. The key to true happiness is a Christ-centered life.

Do you want to be a follower of Christ? Humble yourself and get busy serving others! Paul would write, "For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). &

BULLETIN DIGEST

844 Pine St.

Abilene, TX 79601

Why Some Don’t Believe #4

By Bill Walton

Some people do not believe in God, Christ, and the Bible, because of their close-minded presupposition with regard to miracles.

Obviously, if there is a God there is the possibility of miraculous intervention in our world. And, obviously, if God created the universe and if God inspired men to write the Bible, and if God raised Jesus from the dead, then there has been miraculous intervention in our world.

I believe there is convincing evidence that such miracles have occurred. But some people exclude the possibility of miracles even before they have considered the evidence. In many cases the unbeliever is unwilling to consider the evidence.

Their rejection of anything and everything supernatural is not a conclusion based upon a consideration of the evidence, but a philosophical presupposition. They start with the presupposition that it is not possible that anything miraculous or supernatural has ever occurred or can ever occur.

Rudolph Bultmann in his book, Existence and Faith, says: We must “understand the whole historical process as a closed unity. This closedness means that the continuum of historical happenings cannot to rent by the interference of supernatural powers and that therefore there is no 'miracle' in this sense of the word.” And, in his book Kerygma and Myth, Bultmann says: "A historical fact that involves a resurrection from the dead is utterly inconceivable.”

Because of this closed-minded, pseudo-intellectual blindness, “if there is a living God who is the Lord of history, who has chosen to act in historical events as the Bible witnesses," these so-called Scholars have "no way of recognizing that fact” (George Eldon Ladd: I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, pg 13).

It’s interesting that while unbelievers consider anything miraculous or supernatural to be “utterly inconceivable” they have no trouble swallowing the idea of spontaneous generation—non-life springing to life spontaneously. They cannot conceive of life coming from God by an act of creation. That would be a miracle. But they can conceive of life coming from lifeless dead matter by magic. Oh, they make it sound scientific by calling it "spontaneous generation" but they're really talking about magic. And they know it. Robert Jastrow, the well-known physicist and agnostic, says: “The record of the first billion years of the earth’s existence has been erased—the magic period when life evolved here" (Robert Jastrow, Until the Sun Dies).

But their willingness to dabble in magic goes far beyond spontaneous generation. Three highly respected British astronomers (Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi, and Fred Hoyle), in an effort to defend the idea of a universe that is expanding and eternal, have suggested “new material might be created continuously out of nothing in the empty spaces of the universe" (Robert Jastrow, Until the Sun Dies, pg 31). I suppose they could call that "spontaneous materialization.” Yes, that has a scientific ring to it.

“Professing to be wise, the have become fools” (Romans 1:26). They have rejected miracles and embraced magic. &