Washed by the water of the Word — what a marvelous way to describe what God does inside is when we believe his written Word, the Bible. What if your entire culture was washed by the water of the Word? What would it be like?
Ephesians 5:25,26 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
The Word of God ‘washes’ us when we believe it and act upon it (when we do what it says, incorporating God’s prescribed lifestyle to our own). It’s the cleansing agent and it’s likened unto water which cleans us physically. But God’s Word cleans up our minds and lives, not our bodies.
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he had this to say:
John 13:10 Jesus said to him, He that is washed needs not except to wash his feet, but is clean completely: and you are clean, but not all.
We know who wasn’t clean and his name was Judas Iscariot. He had heard God’s Word right from God’s highest representative on earth, his only begotten son which is God’s Word in the flesh. But he hadn’t let it soaked him enough to let it clean his thinking, his motives, his actions in this world. Judas wanted to force God’s hand by making Jesus King of the Jews right then so that he would exert his force and free them from Roman rule. But God had other plans.
So what did Jesus mean when he said, “He that is washed needs not except to wash his feet…”? Just think about it for a moment. What purpose do your feet serve? Do they not serve as your foundation — what you stand upon? Your feet are also what you walk on in this world, and the Bible likens your lifestyle as your ‘walk’ here on earth.
When we believe God’s record of his son, we get ‘born again’ or ‘born from above’ with God’s precious gift of holy spirit. This is what truly cleanses us inside, spiritually. But we still walk in this world. We still have our fleshy desires and we still exist in a devil-dominated world. We need to wash our feet; in other words, clean up our walk so that our the things we think and do match what we say we believe.
What if Your Entire Culture was Washed by the Water of the Word?
Imagine a culture in which there is no crime. You wouldn’t have to lock the doors on your car, the doors and windows in your home and the entrance to your place of work or business. Theft would be a thing of history along with rape, assault, murder, homosexuality and the rest of the ‘works of the flesh’ which God lists in Galatians 5.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, impurity, licentiousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, selfishness, divisions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of which I tell you beforehand, as I have also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
That’s quite a list of ‘fleshy’ sins, wouldn’t you say? What if all of those disappeared from your culture? Would it be a better place to live? I say it would be close to heaven on earth. (I say ‘close to’ because we live in a fallen, cursed world and Jesus has to return to completely renovate it for God’s purposes.)
Imagine “Close To’ Heaven on Earth
When an entire community believes God’s Word, things change. The word ‘com-unity’ implies common unity. When the great majority of people in an area live God’s way, they share a common unity and God is able to work miracles among them, transforming lives as the culture itself is transformed.
Imagine what “close to’ heaven on earth would mean in your community.
Clean Your Own Feet and Wash Others’ Feet Too
Jesus himself sat down and washed each of his disciples feet. That’s symbolic of what we do to each other when we ‘speak the truth in love’ and help each other overcome those things that are impure and out of alignment with God’s Word and will. As we clean each others’ feet, we make progress toward our present goal which is to stand for God as an example in this perverse and crooked generation.
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, self-control: against such there is no law.
Fruit of the spirit replaces sins of the flesh when we ‘walk by the spirit’ of God. To do that, your feet have to be clean.
My admonition to myself and to you this day is to wash your feet! Then wash others! Let’s work together to make our culture the way God intended it to be — a culture that glorifies God as creator and Father of his children. Let’s get our feet clean! Let’s wash them regularly to keep them that way!