Dirty Jobs

Dirty Jobs

John 13:1-13:17

    There's a popular TV show on the Discovery Channel- its called Dirty Jobs. The premise of the show is that the host Michael Rowe goes around the country looking for the most menial, dangerous, or filthy job he can find and reports on it. Some of the jobs range from scraping pigeon poop off of chimneys to wading through open sewers as well as performing artificial insemination on cows to sorting trash at the city dump. Those are all dirty- perhaps even disgusting jobs but the fact is someone's got to do them. And as he introduces himself he says, Hello, my name is Mike Rowe, and this is my job: I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty—hard-working men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. You might remember a job like that or you might even do it now. ?

    The scene we are witnessing took place no more than 24 hours before the end of His life. Yet more was written about Jesus' last 24 hours than was written on the first 33 years of His life. So is the day when Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins. What I find most strange is that during this 24 hour period, as if His going to the cross were not a selfless act. Even so, Jesus stoops down to perform a particularly dirty job and that was the act of washing His disciples' feet. But when He did Jesus this he foreshadowed the ultimate dirty job, and that was when he laid His life down on a filthy cross to take the sins of the world on Himself. Showed us several important truths about serving others and this is what we are going to look at this morning.

I. Somebody's Got to Do it (v. 4 ) rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. Jesus engaged here in a dirty job- the dirty job of washing the feet of His disciples. It was customary when guests would come into a home to have them remove their sandals. A servant or slave would then come in and kneel at their feet with a bucket of water. That servant would then bathe their feet and in some cases anoint them with perfume. We're reminded just one chapter earlier how the woman came in and anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and the spikenard, and then dried them with her hair. His disciples were there, and they witnessed this spectacle, and yet as soon as they got to the place where they were to celebrate the Passover, none of them took the initiative to do what this woman had done. They had even been talking among themselves about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. They looked themselves over in their so-called pecking order. Maybe they were thinking, "Who is going to do it? Somebody's going to do it? We know this because this was a job that was supposed to have been done before they ever entered the room to sit down. They were already engaged in the meal.

    Ever have one of those jobs, ever see one of those jobs that you think- somebody needs to do something? Ever been the first one at the scene of a big mess and then pretend that you didn't see it? Maybe there is a diaper that needs changing or the dog had an accident or you come into the church and discover that the toilet has overflowed and there is unpleasantness everywhere-and you just happen to stumble onto the scene. Or maybe It's kind of like this old story about four people: Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody. Whenever there was an important job to be done, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. When Nobody did it, Everybody got angry because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Nobody would do it. So consequently Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place. Everybody's always looking around for somebody.

    Yet Jesus, the Bible says, knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and so he took off his cloak put a towel around His waist and washed the dirty feet of His disciples. This was the last lesson Jesus was to teach them. He did not have the time to hold a seminar or to teach a course on the subject. There was only one way Jesus could do this in order to make the fullest impact possible. To show them the priority of serving by finding the most degrading job he could think of at that moment to show them what it was He was going to do in a few hours time when He went to the cross to take on His body the filth and the sin of all humanity, and doing so as a suffering, loving servant- the One about whom was written in Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

    Jesus became that Somebody- that somebody who loved us so much that He took upon Himself the dirt job of handling the filth of the whole world, suffering and dying for us. And seeing that He has done this for us, is there anything that we would be unwilling to do for our Lord.

II. The second thing Jesus showed about dirty jobs is that we have to do them no matter how important we think we are, To serve in spite of rank or status. (v.6)
And this is significant because these disciples were just having a discussion about who among them was the greatest.

A navy chaplain told me this story while working with a large group of women for the fleet family support group- all of them were military wives. The chaplain said, "Now ladies before we begin this meeting we're going to do a little exercise. I want you all to line up each according to rank." He said. All at once the women began to position themselves- putting the admiral's wife and the CPO's wife up front, with the so-called chain of command. In a moment, the chaplain broke it off. He said, "What are you doing? Your husbands might have a rank, but you have no rank!"

And that's the way it is with us as fellow servants of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ is the head of this church. He is in charge of it. None of us have any rank in the church- not if we are servants, Our families may have belonged to this church for a few weeks or even a couple of hundred years- and while that might mean something to us it means nothing to God. Clearly if there ever someone who was a Somebody, Jesus made Himself a nobody. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil 2:6-8)

    Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; yet He reached up to His disciples by stooping down to serve them. This is exactly how we are going to reach the world for Him, reaching out, and reaching up, by stooping down.

    The late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's hamburger chain was known for his humble service within the multi-billion dollar empire he founded. When asked what made him so successful; he replied, "my MBA." But he didn't mean a graduate degree in business education, he meant "a mop- and-bucket attitude." In other words, no work task was too insignificant for him to tackle; he simply jumped in and got the job done. He never asked anyone to do anything he was unwilling to do himself. Dave Thomas was an extremely busy man- but if he saw a need, he did it. And I want to ask right now "Who in this church is not extremely busy?" I want to see a show of hands. If you put your hand up, its probably because you were so busy at one time and you are now worn out. Everybody here is busy. There's not a one in this room- with a few exceptions, who is not. I realize its not always pleasant to serve others. Its not always convenient. We all think that what we got going on is more important than what others have going on. Especially if we think we have a more responsible position or job than others have, etc Guess what, God has called us as Christians who are busy people because He knows busy people will find a way to get a job done. He knows better than to call a lazy person just to get them involved. But don't ever think you are busier than somebody else.

Paul tells us in For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3 This also answers those who think they don't have to do certain things anymore.

Jesus also told His disciples- But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:42-45 The word servant, by the way, comes from the word diakonos. IT is also the same word we get Deacon from. And I have to tell you, I have been in a lot of churches and never have I seen such model examples of servanthood like I have seen in our deacons. These men are the busiest men in this church and in this community. They might not be doing the things you think they should be doing, that's because they are doing what the Lord wants them to do. A couple of them are retired men- that means they are busier than anybody else. And I cite them to tell you sometimes we have the attitude that our deacons and other spiritual leaders are part of the woodwork. We take them for granted sometimes. We think of our best servants like the plumbing around here- don't ever think about them until its not working properly. Jesus, was the Lord of the Universe. If anyone didn't have to humble himself to wash the feet of farmers and fishermen, He didn't. But because he knew he was Lord of the Universe, Because He knew, He was not diminished by showing his love in humble service, he took up the towel and basin and stooped to serve.

III. The last thing about dirty jobs here is that in order to have part in His Kingdom, we must let Christ to do a dirty job on us. (v.8)

    A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?" The pastor replied, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake!"

    Peter almost made that mistake. Because when Jesus came to Simon Peter, he could not bring Himself to let his Lord wash his feet and asked Him "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" (v.7) Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Just like Peter it is pride that often keeps us from letting Jesus cleanse us. We want to be self sufficient. It shames us that the Son of God should have had to die for our sins. We want so badly to be considered good people in our own right, by our own effort. Truly unless we let Him cleanse us, we have no part with Him.

    Unless we recognize the mistake of our pride--the mistake that says, "I'm good enough on my own" then we make no room for Jesus. Unless we confess our need, confess our sin and humbly ask his forgiveness, trusting that His death on the cross paid the price for our sins, we are doomed to an eternity without him.

Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" The point here is made so well. We cannot be qualified as servants unless we have first allowed ourselves to be served by the chief servant, Jesus Christ. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.