I don’t know if it is bad or good, but most of us don’t think much about our posture – especially our posture as it relates to others or to God. When I was a kid, a part of our Episcopal worship was using the kneeling cushions when we went to prayer. But then and here today the person it is expected that he who leads in that prayer is expected to stand. Also, like the Catholics, in some Anglican churches, worshippers are expected to genuflect, or bow their knee, before moving into the pew to sit down, usually because they were standing before the altar. But I wonder how many people would actually get down to put their faces to the ground before the Lord?
Earlier this morning we spent time considering the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. My intention was to have you consider the fact that those feet were not common feet. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, graciously became incarnate in order to sacrifice His life for our deliverance from sin. That was necessary because as Paul says of us, “their feet are swift to shed blood” – (Romans 3:14-15). But the feet of Christ Jesus are holy and were never used to commit sin in any way. Unlike the people of our day, many in Jesus’ day acknowledged His majesty and superiority, not only by declaring their unworthiness to “unloose the Lord’s shoe latchets,” but by kneeling and even prostrating themselves before those feet.
Even if today, we can’t kiss the ground where Jesus stands, our hearts can, and should be, found at Jesus’ feet. In God’s Word we have examples of people kneeling or sitting at Jesus’ feet. One of the first principles of Bible Christianity is the recognition of Christ’s position, not only as our Saviour, but as our Lord. A proper relationship to God comes through kneeling at the feet of Christ. It is His prerogative to lift us up and set us in the chiefest seats, but that is His choice. And if He allows us to put our heads on His chest – what an incredible blessing that is. But we should be willing to remain at His feet, and in fact that is where we should leave our hearts.
Building off our earlier lesson and applying its principles, let me point out that…
Kneeling, laying or sitting at Jesus’ feet is an highly appropriate posture.
Because we must consider His majesty and supremacy over us. Christ is God the Son, and at His feet is an appropriate position for absolutely everyone. Jesus Christ is “God, blessed forever,” despite having come in the flesh and taken up human feet – Romans 9:5. He has a human head, but on that head are many crowns, including the crowns of sovereignty and victory. Mary, His mother provided the means for His incarnation. She knew those tiny toes, but she learned to worship Him on whose feet those toes were found. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Notice that again – “That at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE should bow.” That is somewhat rhetorical. The fact is every knee shall bow before the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. The question is: will it be willing or will it be forced?
When we remember our total unworthiness, we should be willing to bow before those feet. We are insignificant creatures before the Creator, but even more importantly, we are SINFUL creatures. And even after we have been redeemed, we need to remember who we really are and who His is. Undeserved mercy has been given to us, and if it were possible that Christ’s love should be withdrawn, we’d be instantly worthy of eternal execution. There is nothing in ourselves of which we can boast, and when we come near to Jesus our place is “at His feet.”
I know that John the Beloved at the Last Supper suggests otherwise, but we are never worthy of any position higher than His feet, and yet even this is a very honored position. Look at the former demon possessed man of Gadara. He knew that he deserved no other place, and he loved to be no other place than at Jesus‘ feet. His former condition demanded that kind of thinking, and we are not any better than he was. But Christ gave His life to buy us out of the market place of sin and despair just as if we were slaves. At His feet is where we belong.
And having spent His blood on the redemption of our souls, Christ has claims upon us. It now should be our joy to be ready to serve the King. Now that we are in our right mind, we should be kneeling as close to Lord as possible in order to hear even his whispered commands. Like that Gadarene, all our time, all our talents, all our possessions should be laid at His feet and made ready for His use. We should be willing to even to bring every thought into His captivity.
Perhaps we, as Christians, should even go on to say, “I lay my life in sacrifice at the feet of Christ Jesus.” Earlier we looked at Revelation 1, where John was on the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Christ. He was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, when he heard behind him a great voice, as of a trumpet.” John looked and saw the glorified Son of Man. “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. “And when I saw him, I fell at his FEET as DEAD.” That is precisely where we should be: dead at the feet of the Son of God. By all rights; by the law, the foot of Christ should be on our necks. However, no one in that position – no one with that posture – will perish “at Jesus feet.” At the foot of the cross, which was also at the feet of Christ, there is eternal life.
Five times Paul took up the language of the Old Testament to say, “the Lord has put all things under His feet.” And I am convinced when leprous, demon-possessed, bloody-handed sinners will put themselves under His feet, they shall be forgiven and eternally saved. And when those whom the Lord has saved continue to reside at Jesus’ feet there are multiplied blessings.
In other words, at Jesus’ feet is a very good place to be.
Please return to Luke 7. “Behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at His feet behind Him weeping.” This woman, we are told was “a sinner.” And we are told that so are we – “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This woman didn’t go to stand, or even kneel, at Moses’ feet, because there is nothing for a sinner there. And she went weeping; she lay at Jesus’ feet in an attitude of brokenness and repentance. But if you look closely, those aren’t tears of terror; they are tears of love and surrender to the Saviour. She couldn’t see the wounds from the nails, because they were still in the future, but we can see them.
“At Jesus’ feet” is the best place for a heart broken over sin, because that is the place to strengthen our faith. This is God, and He became a man to suffer in my place, and those dear feet were pierced that my heart might be delivered from death. You can’t find faith in a study of the law, but you can by looking at the Redeemer. And that kind of faith can reach out for the pardon the Saviour offers. Standing patiently at His feet, with a broken heart and tears of repentance, you will hear Him say, “Your sins, which are many, are forgiven you. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” I once read: “Repentance, apart from Christ, will need to be repented of.” When your tears for sin are so plentiful that you can’t see Jesus’ face, grab hold of His feet, because they should be right in front of you. “At His feet,” then, is a helpful posture to the weeping penitent.
Now go to Luke 8:35, which describes the healing of the demoniac of Gadara to which we referred earlier. The man used to live among the tombs and used to cut himself with knives and sharp stones. When the locals heard that a great miracle had taken place, “They went out to see what was done. And came to Jesus and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus.” There at Jesus’ feet was a man with a new heart; a new convert; a willing disciple. The old man was gone and there was a new creature in Christ, sitting at the feet of the Saviour. A whole legion of devils had been living in this poor man – addictions, moral enslavement, sin all kinds. But he had been born again by the power of Christ, and there he sat at Jesus’ feet. The demons couldn’t touch those feet, but this new man could and did. The demons feared Christ and hid themselves in a herd of swine, but this man had no fear of the Lord. He combed his hair; he covered his body with decent clothes; he got rid of the evidence of his old life. Imagine how he felt; how new; how clean. “The Lord has saved me, I will sit at His feet.” He had no more fears, no more doubts, no more despair, for Christ had saved him. He simply sat still at Jesus feet, thinking about what the Lord had done and what He is still doing.
Now go to the 41st verse of Luke 8. “Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet and besought Him that He would come into his house: for he had only one daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying.” Many of us know what it is to intercede with God for others. We come to Him because we can’t go anywhere else – no doctor, no lawyer, no judge can help, so we turn to Christ. And we have learned that there is no better place to plead our cause than at Jesus’ feet. When your heart breaks – when you feel that you do not deserve the mercy that you need, lay “at His feet.” “Lord, save my daughter. Lord, save my wife,” or, “Lord, have mercy upon my wandering, willful boy, and save him for Your mercy’s sake.”
If you are at Jesus’ feet, you are near to footing of the Lord’s strength. You are near to Him who tenderly loves you, One who would not have had feet if He had not loved mankind, for He took that body upon Him out of love, and His feet are a part of that body. Sometimes our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. Maybe it is because they were not uttered at Jesus’ feet.
In Luke 10:39 we learn that at Jesus’ feet is a great place to learn and to worship. Martha “had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Do you know why some Christians don’t grow in their knowledge of the Lord and of His Word? It is because they think they know it already. They know enough. They know all they need to know. It is the people who know their unworthiness – those who sit at Jesus’ feet – who learn and grow. How much better students we’d all be if we tried to learn at Jesus’ feet. At Jesus’ feet we are not in a position to debate with the Lord; to question what He says; to question His logic. Don’t turn to some theologian or philosopher for answers to the big questions. Sit and learn at Jesus’ feet. “Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ” – Matthew 23:8.
One more scripture – Luke 17:11 – “ And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”
At the feet of the infinite Son of God is the perfect place to worship Jehovah. This Samaritan, who had been healed, fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks to the Lord. He was not just on his knees, he was on his face as well. That should tell us what posture is the best in which to worship.
I wonder what did the disciples thought of this? Here was a leper, someone who was not supposed to come near to “ordinary people.” Here was a Samaritan, someone unworthy of the least the benefits of the Jews. But here is the Lord Jesus, who had ministered to lepers before and who was willing to eat and drink with, and to save, Samaritans. Did they see this man kiss the feet of the Lord? What did they think? Did they see the man’s tears trickle through the dust on Jesus’ feet?
I wonder, nearly sixty years later, if the Apostle John remembered that day when was given the vision of Christ’s future throne room. The four beasts had “rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” They cast their crowns, as well as their thanksgiving, at the feet of the Saviour. Nearly every creature in Heaven was ready to join the crowd at the foot of the throne and the feet of Christ. At Jesus feet is the highest position any of them deserved, and they rejoiced in it. Their worship was enthusiastic, ecstatic.
Let’s learn from this poor leper, and in so doing let’s prepare for that day of our worship. Let’s learn to sink lower and lower until we are next to nothing. We are next to nothing. Christ is everything, and along with every other part of Him, Jesus’ feet are worthy of our worship. When we are at the feet of Christ, there should be no more thought of ourselves, our dreams, our hopes or even our heavenly hope. At the feet of Jesus, all we can see are the feet of Jesus. When we all get to Heaven, it will all be about Christ. We will all fall down on our faces at the feet of the Saviour, willingly worshiping the lamb of God.
But as we see throughout the New Testament “at the feet” of Christ is not a posture for the future. It is the posture of today. Now. If you are a child of God through the grace of God and the death of Christ, there is no more blessed position for any of us than at the feet of Christ. Is that where your heart is this afternoon?