Opening:
Well Good morning everyone! It is so nice to see everyone here this morning!
This morning, the title of the sermon is “Getting our hands dirty for Jesus”. Today, we are reminding ourselves that in the end, the best expression of our faith is by reaching out in love and service to the world around us. Truly, to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to a world that is in need of His grace and mercy can be a messy endeavor for sure.
I have had a lot of different jobs in my lifetime. Jobs from working in fast food restaurant when I was in high school, to a construction worker while in college, then working on hydro generators shortly after college to being a computer salesman, to an insurance adjuster, to a crisis worker and now to a pastor.
Each of the jobs that I have worked, presented me with different challenges. Each of them had their pros and cons if you will. One of the challenging and dirty jobs that I worked was working asphalt construction. I worked on the grading crew during the week and worked occasionally with the seal crew. While on the grading crew we would tear out the old parking lot or driveway and would prepare the area for blacktop to be installed. It was our job to make sure that all the old chunks of asphalt were disposed of all the grading was proper in order for the blacktop to be installed. This was a dirty job and often times my hands were so tough because I was throwing around chunks of asphalt all the time. Then while on the seal team, I worked on prep team which was responsible to clean the surface. So we would use blowers and steel metal brooms to get the caked on dirt off the ground. Then with the blowers it would clean the surface while in the process get you fill of dirt.
While not all the jobs that I have done in my life have been dirty jobs, some of them were and I needed to be willing to get dirty in order for the job to get done. I believe God is looking for people that He can count on to get their hands dirty once in and awhile. To be a follower of Jesus Christ means that you are one of the few who are willing to take on the dirty job of being a disciple in a broken world. To love people in the middle of their mess, and to extend care and concern to those who are hurting, means that we are going to have to roll up our sleeves.
This message today is not a challenge that we can take in and just walk away from without responding in some kind of meaningful way. This morning, I am calling our church into action and I pray that many would answer this call to further God’s kingdom.
I. In Jesus Footsteps
A. Example
a. We are called to walk in Jesus footsteps. It’s not like God has this expectation for us and doesn’t give us the blueprint or map to follow.
b. In fact, Jesus came to earth to not only save us from our sin, but also to show us how to live.
c. He came to show us how to roll up our sleeves.
d. There are many reasons people can point to as to why Jesus came to earth.
e. You could point to the need for a perfect sacrifice.
f. You could point to the people who received healing from Him.
g. You could point to the messages of hope He preached. However, I believe the clearest reason we are given for His presence was from His own mouth.
B. Called to serve
a. If you have your bibles, please turn with me to Matthew 20:28 NKJV 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
b. Jesus is speaking to His disciples here and explaining that the goal of this life is not to be on top.
c. The point is not to be the most famous or the most powerful person.
d. Instead, serving others should be our ultimate goal.
e. Jesus demonstrates this by leaving His heavenly home and giving Himself sacrificially on the cross. The one person who could have demanded to be served, did not. Instead, He served others.
C. Conversation
a. Not long after Jesus has this conversation with the disciples, He is sitting with them just hours before He would be arrested, put on trial, and crucified.
b. They had gathered to celebrate the Passover festival, which is the remembrance of the blood from the sacrificial lamb back when the Israelite people were in Egypt.
c. The homes with blood covering their door frames would be spared the death of their first born. It is an incredible foreshadowing of the sacrifice Jesus will make on the cross.
d. They are enjoying a final meal with one another when Jesus does something shocking.
D. Feet washing
a. The bible says in John 13:2-5 NKJV 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
b. During the meal together, Jesus suddenly stands up from the table, takes a basin of water and a towel, and begins to wash the disciples’ feet.
c. This would have been very unexpected and would have caught the disciples off guard.
II. The towel
A. Washing feet not uncommon
a. The practice of washing feet itself was not at all uncommon.
b. In fact, it would have been customary for the homeowner to have the feet of their visitors washed.
c. This washing was warranted because people would have been traveling the dusty and dirty countryside wearing nothing but leather sandals.
d. Their feet would have been dirty and stinky. What would have been shocking was not that their feet were being washed.
e. What would have been jarring was that Jesus was the one doing the washing. Jesus knelt down and He rolled up His sleeves.
B. Lowest of low
a. The washing of feet was reserved as a job for the lowest of the low.
b. It was the servants’ job within the home to wash the feet of those entering the home.
c. So, here is Jesus, the Messiah, come from heaven, God in the flesh, with a basin full of water and a towel doing the job of a servant.
d. Jesus was serving His disciples physically by washing their feet, but it was also a representation of a greater truth, that Jesus was going to serve them by giving up His life for them.
e. The bottom line is that washing feet, in any shape or form, will cost you something and require humility.
C. The coal miners
a. During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation, he asked them to picture in their minds a parade, which he knew would be held in Piccadilly Circus, after the war.
b. First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Next, would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky.
c. Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner's caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, “And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?” And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, “We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.”
D. Unsung heroes
a. Often the unsung heroes of the dirty work for the Kingdom of God are the ones who have their "faces to the coal.” (Don McCullough – Waking From The American Dream)
b. Jesus had every right to be the one benefiting from the service of others. He was the very Presence of the God of the universe in the flesh, and yet He puts His “face to the coal” by washing the feet of those He loved.
c. The bible says in John 13:6-15 NKJV 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
d. Peter’s question highlights the fact that the disciples did not fully understand what was taking place before them.
e. They still thought this action was about a physical need to be clean. Jesus wanted to show them that receiving the sacrificial love of Christ in their lives was the way they would be in fellowship with Him, and that replicating this selfless act for others was the way to take part in Jesus’ sacrificial work in the world.
III. Serving each other
A. Wash each other’s feet
a. Jesus gives a directive to the disciples who were with Him that day, and it applies to us as well as His followers: “wash one another’s feet.”
b. This is why today is Serve Day. It is not an option for those who consider themselves disciples of Jesus. It is a part of the deal. If Jesus is going to be the one we follow, then we must stay in step with Him by serving those around us.
c. So, where do we begin? How does one begin to serve others? Does it mean we have to carry a physical basin and towel with us and start scrubbing the feet of anyone who will allow us?
d. The key is taking the three main emphases from Jesus’ message and example, and finding practical ways to live them out in our context.
B. Stay Sensitive to the Needs Around You
a. Jesus met a need by washing the dust from His disciples’ feet. He noticed their physical need and He met it in a practical way.
b. What are the needs you see around you? Perhaps it is the lawn of someone who cannot take care of it on their own that you can mow.
c. Perhaps it is a single mom in need of some babysitting.
d. Perhaps it is a family who is struggling with a cancer diagnosis.
e. Maybe it is an opportunity to go overseas to build homes for the poorest of the poor. When we allow the Spirit of God to keep our spiritual senses awake and aware, we will see the need in the world around us.
C. Lay Down Your Pride
a. Jesus’ sacrificial act took an incredible amount of humility. Our pride is one of the biggest barriers to us serving regularly.
b. We can often see serving people who don’t think like us, act like us, vote like us, or dress like us as a threat to our status or popularity.
c. Because it can be a threat, we may avoid it. Choose humility and step out of your comfort zone to serve your community.
D. Service Will Cost You Something
a. When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet it cost Him. When Jesus went to the cross it cost Him His very life.
b. We have to understand that the life of a servant of Christ is a life that ultimately will be costly. It may cost you financially.
c. It may cost you time. It may cost you energy. It may cost you emotionally.
d. But if we are willing to pay this cost, then we will be able to reap the reward of seeing the world changed for the better.
e. Ultimately, serving is about leadership. Jesus is the ultimate leader, and it is made most clear in sacrifice.
E. Roll up your sleeves
a. Someone once said, “If serving is below you, then leadership is beyond you”. This is so true.
b. The world needs individuals in the church who are willing to roll up their sleeves and demonstrate their leadership ability through serving other people. It is going to take intentional effort on our part, but that is how the world changes.
c. Pastor D.L. Moody left a note for himself in his Bible as a reminder about his call to serve others. Next to Isaiah 6:8 he wrote, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and what I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do.”
Closing:
As we wrap up our time here this morning, To serve other people, you often have to get your hands dirty. Many times, those who need the tangible love of God, as demonstrated by His followers, have circumstances that require sacrificial action. Jesus did not come to the earth in order to be served. Instead, He came to serve. One of the last actions He took before His crucifixion was to wash His disciples’ dusty feet. Then, He told us to do the same for others. Through words and actions, we can serve a world that is hurting and in need by “washing feet” with the love of Christ. I am asking each of you to join us this Saturday to do some repairs here in our church. You may have plans and I understand, maybe you could help us out with some finances to make the necessary repairs. I wanted to share a video with you that represents some of the needs in our building.
