Loving the Lord and Loving One Another
for the Organic Building Up of the Church
as the Body of Christ
Message Five
Life’s Washing in Love to Maintain Fellowship
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
John 13:3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all into His hands and that He had come forth from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His outer garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself;then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
14-15 If I …have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example so that you also may do even as I have done to you.
Word of Appetizer
Since John is a book of signs (2:11), what is recorded in John 13 concerning foot-washing should be considered a sign. What is the spiritual significance of the Lord washed His disciples’ feet?
The Lord washed His disciples’ feet to show them that He loved them to the uttermost (John 13:1), and He charged them to do the same to one another in love. The Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet was the washing away of their dirtiness so that their fellowship with the Lord and with one another could be maintained.
In our experience the defilement of the feet signifies separation from God and from one another through contact with the world; foot-washing signifies the recovery of spiritual freshness and vitality and the recovery of our fellowship with the Lord and with one another. Foot-washing means recovering our former feelings, bringing us back to the freshness and newness of life, and giving us fresh strength to recover how we previously treasured the Lord as our first love by giving Him the first place in all things.
Spiritual Burden
In our experience the defilement of the feet signifies separation from God and from one another through contact with the world; foot-washing signifies the recovery of spiritual freshness and vitality and the recovery of our fellowship with the Lord and with one another. For us to experience the washing, we need to spend time in the Lord’s presence and with the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life.
Foot-washing is a matter of the Lord’s loving us to the uttermost in order to meet our uttermost need; each of us must learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiritual foot-washing to them.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Since John is a book of signs, what is recorded in John 13 concerning foot-washing should be considered a sign, which is a symbol with spiritual significance.
There must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God by our presence; others should desire to seek after God, and their spiritual energy should be revived as a result of meeting us and speaking to us.
Foot-washing is a matter of the Lord’s loving us to the uttermost in order to meet our uttermost need; each of us must learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiritual foot-washing to them.
Without the spiritual foot-washing, the church life cannot be realized, and the reality of the church life would be gone.
The Experience of Life
In our experience the defilement of the feet signifies separation from God and from one another through contact with the world. Today the world is dirty, and we, the saints, are easily contaminated; for us to maintain pleasant fellowship with the Lord and with one another, we need spiritual foot-washing carried out both by the Lord in His love and by one another in love.
If we remain in the Lord’s presence, the Lord will come to us and wash us, not with the blood but with the Spirit, the living word, and the inner life. Whenever we are in need of such a washing, we can just open ourselves up to the Lord as we spend time in His presence and allow the inner life to flow within us.
Practice and Application
For us to experience the washing, we need to spend time in the Lord’s presence and with the saints who
are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life. Each of us must learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiritual foot-washing to them to cleanse them from the earthly touch; this keeps them new, fresh, and living; our loving one another in this way is a sign that we belong to Christ.
Each of us must learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiritual foot-washing to them. The daily foot-washing definitely needs to be exercised by the Lord Himself on the one hand and by all the saints on the other hand; then we shall be able to maintain an excellent fellowship with which we shall have the real church life.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 The foot-washing is a matter of love, a love to the uttermost (John 13:3-5)
(Please illustrate that how the Lord Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. What is its symbolic significance?)
T2 Through the earthly touch we are often dirtied (John 13:14)
(Why was foot-washing a necessity for them?)
Day 2
T1 Foot-washing is a sign, the significance is that it is for fellowship with the Lord and with one another (Titus 3:5)
(Please illustrate the importance of foot-washing.)
T2 For things that are sinful we need the cleansing of the blood, but for things that are dirty and not sinful we need the spiritual washing (1 John 1:9; Titus 3:5)
(Please illustrate with experiences that many times we are not sinful, but we are dirty.)
Day 3
T1 We need not only the foot-washing that is exercised directly by the Lord Himself but also the mutual foot-washing of one another (John 13:14-15)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how do we properly about to wash others’ feet. )
T2 Whenever we come together with the saints, we must take off our garments and forget our attainments (John 13:34-35)
(Please illustrate with experiences that what is the proper attitude we should have when we wash others’ feet.)
Day 4
T1 To learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiritual foot-washing to them (Psa. 23:2-3)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how can we practically learn the ministering the spiritual foot-washing.)
T2 [Foot-washing] means recovering our former feelings, bringing us back to the freshness of life (Psa. 23:2-3; Acts 3:19-20)
(Please illustrate that the defiled feet denotes staleness in fellowship with the Lord; Clean feet, however, denote fresh fellowship with the Lord.)
Day 5
T1 An example of foot-washing (2 Cor. 4:16)
(Please illustrate that the There must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God by our presence.)
T2 We have to be fresh all the time before we can wash others’ feet (Titus 3:5)
(Please illustrate that every one of us needs our feet washed, and every one of us needs to be prepared to wash others’ feet.)
Day 6
T1 We should have an ambition before the Lord to wash others’ feet (Eph. 5:18; Rom. 15:32)
(Please illustrate with examples that how do we wash each other’s feet.)
T2 If the church life is to be kept fresh, new, pleasant, and living, we continually need this mutual foot-washing (Rom. 15:32)
(Please illustrate that in order to wash others’ feet, we must daily be filled with the Holy Spirit, be in constant fellowship with the Lord, and live in the mingled spirit.)
