Feet Washing.

Question:

Some in our church are leaning in the modern position of doing away with the feet washing part of the communion service.

We have the Lord's Supper quarterly and the feet washing with only one of those services.

Here's the question: Do you or don't you? If you do, how often? If you don't why don't you?

 

Glad to hear some still do it. Bob, do the ORB churches still sit segregated at all services or just for the feet washing?

We sit separate only at the feet washing.

We have paired off and washed one another's feet, and we sometimes have had that you wash the person to your right, and so on down the line until the last person in the bench comes around and does the first.

I think it interesting that some think it a cultural thing and yet Christ gave that command just as much as he gave the command for the rest of the Lord's Supper. Are we being like Peter if we say we refuse to do it? I wouldn't want to toss it out for anything either.

It ends up being the most meaningful service we have out of the entire year. We also have people come from the community to that service just to "watch" Many of them have told me how beautiful they thought it was that the Baptists continued to practice such a thing. I wonder if we are robbing ourselves of a blessing if we refuse to do it because Christ said happy we are if we do do what he says.

And since we ain't Pentecostal, we don't spin dry, we just go through the wringer of life, but then we're old fashioned you know.

Just settin' here drip drying,

Dan:saint:

 

If it is simply instructions to "be a servant" I believe Christ had already taught this elsewhere. He gave the pefect servant example and no doubt he does want to teach us to be a servant. He 'humbled' himself and wants to teach us to humble ourselves too.

I believe part of His reason for telling us to keep this ordinance is the act of a servants heart and humility. It is humbling to sit there and let some dear brother (or in your case sister) wash your feet. The first time I participated as a younger man, I was paired with a dear saint of God, deacon in his 80's. Talk about humbling.

I've heard some tell me that feet washing shouldn't be practiced because it's only found in one of the Gospels and not all four. What an excuse.

There IS a great spiritual picture here: 1. Being a sevant, yes 2) Humility
3) Following in Christ's footsteps 4) Need for confession

I have come to the conclusion that what Jesus said in vs. 10 " He that is wahed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all."


Of course anyone would know that wearing sandals or going barefoot, they needed to wash their dirty feet. I'm old enough to remember when we took a bath every Saturday night if we needed it or not. During the rest of the week in those days B-4 modern conveniences we would just wash our feet at night, perhaps face and of course hands. The reason being is our feet got dirty from going barefoot all day and Mama would holler out, 'wash those feet before you all go to bed and dirty up the sheets."

My understanding of a spiritual lesson here is this: It's like Jesus was telling Peter, 'Pete, you don't need a whole bath. You've already had your bath. You just need to wash your feet.'

Do you get it? We had our bath when we rec'd Christ and were born again. Our baptism pictures that bath. But as we walk through this dirty world, our feet get dirty so's to speak. That is we sin. We don't need to get saved all over again but we need to confess our sins. I John 1:9 was written to believers you know. So, as I walk through this dirty world and get my feet dirty from sin, I need to confess it and have my feet washed. That is the Lord who washed me off completely or saved me, gave me my bath, is now forgiving me and cleaning up my feet. I don't need to be baptized again and again which was a picture of my bath. An outward physical representation or picture of what had inwardly happened. I get baptized once. But I need to stay confessed up and in a right relationship with my Lord. This is something I do continually and so therefore the foot washing pictures that.

Do you understand what I'm a trying to say? ? ?

To think it is cultural and or that we don't have to do it or to refuse to do it, then we might as well refuse baptism (which was originally a Jewish rite by the way) and the Lord's Supper or communion as some call it (Which also was an outgrowth of a Jewish practice, the Passover). After all, are not baptism and the Lord's supper also figurative? Why is it we hold those two but when it comes to feet washing THAT ONE is figurative.

Could it be we don't want to humble ourselves? Could it be we don't want to take on the actual role of a servant? Could it be that actually it might picture our hearts condition and we want to hang on to our sin and not confess it? (Go to bed with dirty feet, like Mama would have said.)

It would seem fundamental Christians would take Christ's word literally. That's why we DO practice believer's baptism by immersion. That's why we DO practice the Lord's supper. But, let's throw out foot washing?
The scripture says: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for sso 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." John 13: 13-15.

Then read vs. 16. Are we saying we are "greater than the lord" if we refuse to participate in this ordinance?

"If ye know thes things, happy are ye if ye do them".

So, if you want to spiritualize it all, then become a Quaker. At least they and the Salvation Army are consistent in their practice.

Yours happy doing it! :jesus:

Dan

 

DonnA

It would seem I am more at home here than the other forum where it seems there are more liberals posting than conservatives and I don't care to waste my time arguing with those who have no desire to hold by the old way.

 

Hey,

It would seem that you in the "politically correct" crowd just want to let all things slide and pat eachother on the back.

I was raised there is a fine rope of sand that binds Baptists together. We surely ought to be free to disagree. I did not realize that all Baptists had to subscribe to a certain belief system of liberalness. When I express my opinions it is bashing, but yours aren't? :laugh: :laugh:


I thought this forum was for where we can discuss what we believe and why. If you disagree with me, fine. I've always said people are free to be wrong if they want to. You no doubt think that I am wrong, but you would not give me the same freedom of thought or expression?

Rbel, from your posts over on the other forum, I would wonder why you would even consider yourself a fundamentalist, or is it you just like to belittle anyone who doesn't hold your liberal viewpoint.

I never expect anyone here to believe what I do, I am not in fellowship with you all. I do believe those with whom I'm in close fellowship should believe as I do on as many points as we can, but again, we too have a right to disagree.

If you people think that everyone should believe as you do and go around telling people how great they are, then join the Lutherans or some liberal church with a creed where they have some watered down pablem to feed folks instead of the meat of the word.

If what I say gets under your skin, then check out the Bible for yourself and ask God to guide YOU as to what it says. No scripture the Bible says is of private interpretation, however many of you all seem to think that your interpretation is allright but I'm not entitled to any opinion unless it agrees with your liberal one, right?

As the scandinavians would say: UFF DA! :BangHead: