WEBVTT 00:00:00.965 --> 00:00:03.599 Well, good morning to all of you. 00:00:03.599 --> 00:00:09.733 Can we give thanks for this worship team and just the awesome job they do? 00:00:09.733 --> 00:00:19.632 I'm so grateful for the effort they put forth and not just for the quality of the music, but just for the also the heart of worship displayed. 00:00:19.632 --> 00:00:22.599 Hey, listen, we're continuing in our study of the book of John. 00:00:22.599 --> 00:00:23.966 We've been working through the Book of John. 00:00:23.966 --> 00:00:27.399 We're going to be in John chapter 12 today. 00:00:27.632 --> 00:00:31.632 And there's one guy who came to mind in the midst of preparing for this message. 00:00:31.632 --> 00:00:35.432 I've always been encouraged by Al Mohler in his ministry. 00:00:35.432 --> 00:00:39.265 He is the president of Southern Seminary. 00:00:39.265 --> 00:00:41.798 Many others have as well. 00:00:41.798 --> 00:00:44.432 The thing that most encourage me about Dr. 00:00:44.432 --> 00:00:58.033 Mohler, though, is the way he started out at Southern, you know, when he came to Southern Seminary, which is here in Louisville, it's a it's a seminary that has trained many, many, many pastors, especially in this area, largest seminary in the world right now. 00:00:59.033 --> 00:01:03.265 When he first came, though, southern Seminary had become very liberal. 00:01:03.265 --> 00:01:11.066 They had moved away from the view of the authority of scripture, of the inerrancy, of Scripture, of the Scripture, as our basis for all of life and theology. 00:01:11.066 --> 00:01:13.533 They had gone away from that. 00:01:13.533 --> 00:01:25.899 And so when he came in, the first priority was to change that back, to move that back to where the scriptures and authority of scriptures, inerrancy, the scriptures are the foundation of everything they teach, which meant a lot to me. 00:01:25.899 --> 00:01:31.099 To me, that's just a supreme act of love and care for the church. 00:01:31.433 --> 00:01:35.266 Well, I had a good friend who was also the provost at the seminary years ago. 00:01:35.266 --> 00:01:36.399 I got to visit with him. 00:01:36.399 --> 00:01:36.899 I went there. 00:01:36.899 --> 00:01:37.698 We met in his office. 00:01:37.698 --> 00:01:39.965 We were talking about especially family ministry. 00:01:39.965 --> 00:01:43.099 How do we train parents to train their children? 00:01:43.099 --> 00:01:47.433 And as we're talking, at one point he stops and says, Hey, take a look at that window over there. 00:01:47.433 --> 00:01:50.033 Does is there anything that looks strange about that window? 00:01:51.033 --> 00:01:53.599 And I thought, I'm not here for decorating advice. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:55.233 We're not that's not what I'm into. 00:01:55.233 --> 00:01:57.299 But I'll look at it. 00:01:57.299 --> 00:01:58.465 And it did. It looked weird. 00:01:58.465 --> 00:02:00.033 And look it didn't look like a normal window. 00:02:00.033 --> 00:02:03.799 And he said, that's because it's bulletproof glass. 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:05.899 That raised a whole lot more questions in my mind. 00:02:05.899 --> 00:02:07.832 I wonder where this was going. 00:02:07.832 --> 00:02:09.466 But he said, here's the issue. 00:02:09.466 --> 00:02:11.932 This room we're meeting in was originally Dr. 00:02:11.932 --> 00:02:14.098 Mueller's office. 00:02:14.098 --> 00:02:24.332 And when he first came and started to make all these changes, what I took as a supreme act of love, care for the seminary, many others took differently. 00:02:24.332 --> 00:02:33.998 And he had death threat after death, threat after death threat, so much so that they installed bulletproof glass on the offices that he had. 00:02:35.265 --> 00:02:37.699 And he said, I keep those windows up. 00:02:37.699 --> 00:02:40.733 They've asked me to change them out because they're hard to clean. 00:02:40.733 --> 00:02:49.832 But we leave them up as a reminder that there was a day and age in the seminary where we had to install bulletproof glass because of the death threats on the president. 00:02:49.832 --> 00:02:52.832 It's shocking how we can view things so differently. 00:02:52.832 --> 00:02:59.532 What I saw as a supreme act of love others saw as evil as hate. 00:03:00.265 --> 00:03:01.466 They disparaged him. 00:03:01.466 --> 00:03:03.265 I couldn't believe he would do such things. 00:03:03.265 --> 00:03:09.366 How is it that we can end up sometimes and see the same thing and end up in such different places? 00:03:09.366 --> 00:03:13.165 We're going to see some of that and today's passage in John chapter 12. 00:03:13.165 --> 00:03:17.633 In fact, we're going to see three different displays of love that occur here. 00:03:17.633 --> 00:03:21.633 We'll see lavish love, extreme pouring out of love. 00:03:21.633 --> 00:03:27.466 We'll see disordered love, misplaced love, and then we'll see prioritize love as we look at this passage. 00:03:27.466 --> 00:03:29.866 So we're gonna look in John chapter 12. 00:03:29.866 --> 00:03:34.598 If you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles for free for you out in the connection corner. 00:03:34.598 --> 00:03:38.265 In fact, through the passage up on the screen, it's on page 845. 00:03:38.265 --> 00:03:50.366 In that Bible, we tie the pages on the screen to that specific Bible, but we're in John chapter 12, and let's read the first two verses here to get our bearings, to get our setting on the passage. 00:03:50.366 --> 00:04:02.598 John Chapter 12, verse one and two, six days before the Passover Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was whom Jesus has raised from the dead. 00:04:02.598 --> 00:04:04.165 So they gave a dinner for him there. 00:04:04.165 --> 00:04:10.765 Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. 00:04:10.765 --> 00:04:12.332 So here's our bearing, here's our setting. 00:04:12.332 --> 00:04:14.566 It's six days before the Passover. 00:04:14.566 --> 00:04:22.098 That's significant because basically Jesus has about six days left before they put him to death. 00:04:22.098 --> 00:04:24.632 And so if you notice, we're in chapter 12 of John. 00:04:24.632 --> 00:04:26.798 Do you think that's the ending of the book? 00:04:26.798 --> 00:04:34.065 But that's basically that half of the book spends about a week of his life, the focus of a week of his life. 00:04:34.065 --> 00:04:37.065 So things are really slowing down time wise. 00:04:37.065 --> 00:04:40.333 He's going to spend a lot of time investing in his disciples in this window. 00:04:41.499 --> 00:04:42.966 Also, note the word Bethany. 00:04:42.966 --> 00:04:44.333 They come back to Bethany. 00:04:44.333 --> 00:04:48.798 We were in chapter 11, and that's where Lazarus says it says here Lazarus was. 00:04:48.798 --> 00:04:51.399 That's where he brought Lazarus back to life. 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:52.798 The miracle of all miracles. 00:04:52.798 --> 00:04:57.033 That's what turned so many against him, though. 00:04:57.033 --> 00:05:01.865 Just like with our mother, you do something, you think that's great and it turns many against him. 00:05:01.865 --> 00:05:03.333 The miracle of all miracles. 00:05:03.333 --> 00:05:06.033 Bringing someone back to life. 00:05:06.033 --> 00:05:11.199 But he comes back to the town and of course, they throw a party for him. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:17.999 I mean, if someone who had done something great for your family comes through town, you're going to want to throw a party with them. 00:05:17.999 --> 00:05:19.365 You're going to want to celebrate that. 00:05:19.365 --> 00:05:29.432 In fact, other accounts of the story of Matthew and Mark said they met in the home of Simon, the leper, probably someone else who had been healed by Jesus in the same town. 00:05:29.432 --> 00:05:30.565 Let's bring them all together. 00:05:30.565 --> 00:05:32.733 Let's celebrate what he had done. 00:05:34.466 --> 00:05:39.966 Now, notice here, as we get the setting, it said in verse two that Martha served them. 00:05:40.165 --> 00:05:41.331 Martha does the serving. 00:05:41.331 --> 00:05:42.632 Now we've seen that before. 00:05:42.632 --> 00:05:50.132 If you've read the Book of Luke, you've seen where Martha and Mary are compared, contrasted not in a favorable light for Martha. 00:05:50.132 --> 00:05:56.565 Martha, Martha, why are you so busy and bothered with so many things where Mary has chosen a better path to sit at my feet and worship. 00:05:56.565 --> 00:06:02.632 And there it's really shown that she she had gotten her priorities out of whack. 00:06:02.632 --> 00:06:07.699 She was too focused on the tasks and ignoring Jesus in the moment. 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:12.632 Now, what's cool here is, though, that we don't see her painted negatively here. 00:06:12.632 --> 00:06:18.466 There's the contrast and we'll see Mary as she often shows up worshiping at Jesus's feet. 00:06:18.466 --> 00:06:20.665 We'll see the contrast between the two. 00:06:20.665 --> 00:06:27.665 But but Martha is not spoken of negatively here, and that's important to recognize. 00:06:27.665 --> 00:06:32.165 There is a service aspect of ministry that is not unimportant. 00:06:32.165 --> 00:06:39.399 It is significant, especially around the serving of food, which I think as Baptists, we would say, amen, hallelujah. 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.632 That's a critical role in the church. 00:06:42.632 --> 00:06:53.031 You know, it's interesting how much ministry in the Bible occurs around food When you start to look at it through that lens, you see connections ministry happening. 00:06:53.031 --> 00:06:57.999 Also arguments happening all around, food all the time. 00:06:57.999 --> 00:07:00.798 There's just something, even socially, that happens. 00:07:00.798 --> 00:07:03.165 If we can gather around food, if we can connect around food. 00:07:03.165 --> 00:07:11.466 If I were to call you up and say, Hey, I'd love to just set out a couple of chairs and us sit around and talk about our feelings, I'd be like, Leave me alone, weirdo. 00:07:11.466 --> 00:07:13.665 Why are you calling me right? 00:07:13.665 --> 00:07:15.432 But if I said, Hey, you want to grab lunch? 00:07:15.432 --> 00:07:16.732 Do you have time to grab lunch? 00:07:16.732 --> 00:07:18.232 Yeah, I'll eat. Let's go eat. 00:07:18.232 --> 00:07:23.831 You know, there's something about food that just helps us connect with one another to be able. 00:07:23.831 --> 00:07:24.365 And it's so. 00:07:24.365 --> 00:07:26.399 It's important that that's done well. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:33.199 We want the conversation to be about the conversation, not about how bad the food was or how poorly it was presented. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:39.632 There's something about doing that with excellence that is valued and that even Jesus values. 00:07:39.798 --> 00:07:43.432 And so you see that that comparison in Martha and Mary. 00:07:43.432 --> 00:07:49.098 It hints at some of what we see in the church with the role of elders and deacons. 00:07:49.098 --> 00:07:51.399 At Chapter six, the deacons are issued. 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:55.865 They're given the charge of caring for the service, especially of widows. 00:07:55.865 --> 00:07:59.999 Those in need elders are given the charge of caring for the doctrine of the church. 00:08:01.165 --> 00:08:04.531 And so we still see that play out today, and both are critical. 00:08:04.531 --> 00:08:10.132 You've got to have solid doctrine, you've got to have solid beliefs, but you also got to love and serve. 00:08:10.132 --> 00:08:18.132 I mean, if you say we believe what the Bible teaches, but you we never love and serve anyone, there's a contradiction there. 00:08:18.132 --> 00:08:20.531 It's not where you went in that we want to care for both. 00:08:20.531 --> 00:08:48.331 In fact, I often say of the deacons, I think the deacons in the church are the front lines of unity in the church, because when churches split over meaningless things, you know, arguments over things that don't don't matter the color of the paint or whatever you've heard the stories, it always comes back to somewhere along the way, someone quit leading with just a humble heart of service. 00:08:48.331 --> 00:08:57.298 It went from, We're just going to humbly serve one another to this place of No, what I say has to go, but it matters more than unity. 00:08:57.298 --> 00:08:58.066 This little thing. 00:08:58.066 --> 00:08:59.365 I got to get my way. 00:08:59.365 --> 00:09:02.365 My rights are most important. 00:09:02.499 --> 00:09:03.331 We end up there. 00:09:03.331 --> 00:09:06.499 That's a it's a tough place to be. 00:09:06.499 --> 00:09:14.331 But the deacons are the frontlines of unity because they model that act of service and humility. 00:09:14.331 --> 00:09:20.331 A friend of mine shared just this week about a church he had been involved with years ago. 00:09:20.331 --> 00:09:23.899 He remembers when the pastor hired him as an associate. 00:09:23.899 --> 00:09:27.331 And I say hired because they didn't pay him, which is a great arrangement. 00:09:27.331 --> 00:09:29.532 I think we'll be talking about that among the elders here. 00:09:30.599 --> 00:09:39.566 Somehow he agreed to it, but the deacons did not like that the pastor had made this decision, and I don't know all the details. 00:09:39.566 --> 00:09:54.499 He may not have gone about it the right way, but he remembers the night he could hear the the pastor and the head of the deacons in the opposite room yelling at each other at the top of their lungs, just yell and scream and almost to the point of fighting. 00:09:54.499 --> 00:10:02.432 And so the church of 15 people split over that split apart. 00:10:02.432 --> 00:10:04.099 How do we end up there? 00:10:04.099 --> 00:10:05.265 It's not where we were going to end up. 00:10:05.265 --> 00:10:11.466 We want to value both the doctrine of the church but lead with humble humility, service, attitude. 00:10:11.466 --> 00:10:13.099 And we see that comparison here. 00:10:13.099 --> 00:10:16.032 We're going to see more as we look at Mary and Martha as we go. 00:10:16.032 --> 00:10:19.599 In fact, this week, I think we got a good picture of that in the church. 00:10:19.599 --> 00:10:23.198 So, you know, we're renovating the fellowship hall that's down below where we're sitting right now. 00:10:23.198 --> 00:10:25.765 In fact, throw up some of these pictures. 00:10:25.765 --> 00:10:30.365 This is one of the images of the walls when they start come tumbling down. 00:10:30.365 --> 00:10:34.066 First one goes down and then they later they start to take them out. 00:10:34.066 --> 00:10:34.798 One by one. 00:10:34.798 --> 00:10:35.666 We're loading them up. 00:10:35.666 --> 00:10:38.066 And you saw guy after guy after guy. 00:10:38.066 --> 00:10:46.865 We had some ladies there as well helping, just loading them up, taking them out, seeing them hauled off, even in the pouring down rain, everyone. 00:10:46.865 --> 00:10:49.131 And there were discussions about the best way to do it. 00:10:49.131 --> 00:10:51.432 You know, is this the right way to stack the panels or not? 00:10:51.432 --> 00:10:55.099 But they were all friendly, Wasn't he arguing? 00:10:55.099 --> 00:10:56.499 There wasn't any yelling. 00:10:56.499 --> 00:10:57.566 It was we're here. 00:10:57.566 --> 00:11:02.966 We're so glad to be able to be here and serve so we ended up getting that whole room cleaned out. 00:11:02.966 --> 00:11:06.631 We thought what would take two days and four crews just took one day. 00:11:06.631 --> 00:11:08.565 All the carpet out, all the walls out. 00:11:08.565 --> 00:11:10.198 They got the floors sanded down. 00:11:10.198 --> 00:11:13.631 It's ready to start painting this week. It's all moving along. 00:11:13.631 --> 00:11:22.764 But it was just great to see just this excitement, this service attitude, this humility, this lightheartedness in the midst of everything we were doing. 00:11:22.764 --> 00:11:27.798 All this goes back to Mary and Martha and the way they interacted with one another. 00:11:27.798 --> 00:11:33.465 And the point is, they're here for this dinner, though, Martha, serve in the dinner. 00:11:33.465 --> 00:11:37.499 And so something, though, very interesting happens when Mary shows up on the scene. 00:11:37.499 --> 00:11:40.231 Let's look at verse three. 00:11:40.231 --> 00:11:54.932 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 00:11:54.932 --> 00:11:57.331 I said, We're going to see three acts of love today. 00:11:57.331 --> 00:12:07.465 This is the first one, lavish love, because this is a lavish, extravagant, extreme display of love. 00:12:07.565 --> 00:12:14.099 In this moment, Mary shows up, Jesus is here and she comes out and anoints his feet. 00:12:14.099 --> 00:12:20.399 In fact, there's three elements here that I want to highlight about what she does and the significance of them. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.899 First is just the anointing in and of itself and the act of anointing. 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:35.099 You see in the Old Testament oil was poured over the head of someone who was designated as the King of great. 00:12:35.099 --> 00:12:37.731 Some of like here, that oil was likely valuable. 00:12:37.731 --> 00:12:42.932 It was poured over the head symbolically as your head, meaning the place from where you lead. 00:12:42.932 --> 00:12:48.798 The vast most valuable part of your body is also designating you as the leader of this nation. 00:12:48.798 --> 00:12:49.865 We value you. 00:12:49.865 --> 00:12:52.298 Your leadership is value. 00:12:52.298 --> 00:12:55.698 The act of mourning, of anointing what is symbolically sets someone apart. 00:12:57.099 --> 00:13:01.798 But in passage she doesn't anoint his head. 00:13:01.798 --> 00:13:16.631 So the second significant element of this is that she anoints his feet and now we got to take a step back here and talk about this for just a second, because if you look at some of the other accounts, there's actually four versions of this story in the gospels. 00:13:16.631 --> 00:13:22.131 We have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Matthew and Mark likely are the same account. 00:13:22.131 --> 00:13:24.231 Luke is probably a different account. 00:13:24.231 --> 00:13:34.065 And which by the way, as I'm talking about these other gospels, if you've been here over the last few months, I've not talked about the other Gospels at all. 00:13:34.065 --> 00:13:37.899 The book of John is something like 90% unique. 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:43.532 And so since about the middle of Chapter six, everything we've been talking about doesn't show up in the other gospels. 00:13:44.565 --> 00:13:51.932 We've got six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, this kind of just unique material in one big chunk. 00:13:51.932 --> 00:14:00.664 But now here with the story of Mary anointing, what's interesting is in Matthew and Mark, she does anoint his head. 00:14:01.164 --> 00:14:03.764 She's not name they're named here. 00:14:03.764 --> 00:14:07.499 A lot of names show up in this passage that don't show up in others. 00:14:07.499 --> 00:14:09.932 She does anoint his head there, as some have said. 00:14:09.932 --> 00:14:11.198 Now see, we can't trust the Bible. 00:14:11.198 --> 00:14:13.599 Here's a clear contradiction. 00:14:13.599 --> 00:14:19.532 But we know as we've looked at different stories, each of the gospel accounts, the writers emphasize different things. 00:14:19.532 --> 00:14:21.264 They draw out different things. 00:14:21.264 --> 00:14:23.731 Just tell a story at home. 00:14:23.731 --> 00:14:29.731 Someone else in the family will correct you about things you left out that you should have emphasized, but you didn't want to. 00:14:29.731 --> 00:14:32.499 I to draw this part out. 00:14:32.499 --> 00:14:32.731 Okay. 00:14:32.731 --> 00:14:36.831 I don't care if it was November or September, whatever it was last year. 00:14:36.831 --> 00:14:41.798 Here's what I want to get to and that's what he's doing here. 00:14:41.798 --> 00:14:43.065 He's drawing out the reality. 00:14:43.065 --> 00:14:46.731 Yes, I may have anointed the head, but I want you to see that they anointed his feet. 00:14:46.731 --> 00:14:49.499 That she anointed his feet. 00:14:49.499 --> 00:14:57.698 Now, the significance of that and what I think the emphasis here is, is that it wasn't just the head, it was the toe from head to toe. 00:14:57.698 --> 00:15:00.565 We're anointing she's anointing the entire body. 00:15:00.565 --> 00:15:03.499 In essence, his whole body had been prepared. 00:15:03.499 --> 00:15:07.731 And the only time you would have done that is at burial. 00:15:08.432 --> 00:15:19.764 You want to make sure that the body that we can endure the smell before we get it in the ground, in that hot, dry culture, bodies decay very quickly. 00:15:19.865 --> 00:15:24.798 And so the symbolism here is I've got a greater purpose in mind here. Yes. 00:15:24.798 --> 00:15:27.065 Mary came to worship at his feet. 00:15:28.065 --> 00:15:31.399 She came to say, God, I'm so grateful for what you've done. 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:34.231 I'm at your feet as your servant. 00:15:34.231 --> 00:15:38.298 But you had also she didn't even realize it. 00:15:38.298 --> 00:15:44.499 She was preparing him for burial, for his sacrifice, in the midst of anointing his feet. 00:15:44.499 --> 00:16:00.331 Now, the third thing, though, to point out about this anointing, that it was extravagant over the top at so many levels, both in its value but also in its cultural statement. 00:16:01.099 --> 00:16:11.499 So as we read and study the value of the perfume she used, most agree it was roughly the equivalent of a year's salary. 00:16:11.499 --> 00:16:16.131 So think of whatever possession you own that is worth a year's salary. 00:16:16.131 --> 00:16:21.065 The average American wage is somewhere in the 55,000 or so. 00:16:21.065 --> 00:16:22.932 I mean, what item do you own? 00:16:22.932 --> 00:16:28.264 The one singular item that has that kind of value to it? 00:16:28.264 --> 00:16:35.731 Then in a moment of deep gratitude, gratitude is just given to someone else poured out on someone else. 00:16:35.731 --> 00:16:36.831 There's a lavishness there. 00:16:36.831 --> 00:16:43.365 There's an extravagance that is just almost incomprehensible. 00:16:43.498 --> 00:16:45.065 And it's so extravagant. 00:16:45.065 --> 00:16:47.565 This perfume just you can't avoid it. 00:16:47.565 --> 00:16:50.731 It fills up the whole house with the smell. 00:16:50.731 --> 00:16:54.664 And again, we feel sorry for Martha and her sensitive nose in this moment. 00:16:54.664 --> 00:16:58.932 Who else here kind of can't stand the overpowering perfume in the room? 00:16:58.932 --> 00:17:00.697 You know what I'm talking about? 00:17:00.697 --> 00:17:01.398 I was this lady. 00:17:01.398 --> 00:17:02.032 I worked with it. 00:17:02.032 --> 00:17:06.132 She must have sprayed the whole bottle on herself every morning before coming in to the office. 00:17:06.132 --> 00:17:08.397 It filled up the whole room. 00:17:08.397 --> 00:17:09.132 I'm just dying. 00:17:09.132 --> 00:17:12.932 I'm having to run out of there, take, like, an hour for it to clear out. It's. 00:17:12.932 --> 00:17:15.597 There's no avoiding the reality that she has showed up. 00:17:18.031 --> 00:17:23.031 Mary says, I don't care what other people think. 00:17:23.097 --> 00:17:28.365 She saved my brother, who is so much more valuable than this perfume and embodiment of the poor. 00:17:28.365 --> 00:17:35.065 This out on him just to try to begin to show him how much I appreciate what he's done. 00:17:35.065 --> 00:17:44.531 An extravagant, overwhelming love in response to what Jesus has done. 00:17:45.998 --> 00:17:50.132 The problem, though, is not everyone saw it that way. 00:17:50.132 --> 00:18:01.265 Not everyone agreed that this is what should be done. In fact, we're going to see this next display of love, and I would call it disordered love. 00:18:02.597 --> 00:18:11.464 Judith sees what she does and he doesn't like her approach because he loved something else. 00:18:11.464 --> 00:18:12.632 We're going to see how that plays out here. 00:18:12.632 --> 00:18:14.798 Look at the next few verses here. 00:18:14.798 --> 00:18:16.531 Let's look at verse four. 00:18:16.531 --> 00:18:29.798 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for 300 in their eye and given to the poor? 00:18:29.798 --> 00:18:34.932 So we get just a touch of the value of this. 00:18:35.298 --> 00:18:40.531 We get just a hint of her generosity. 00:18:40.531 --> 00:18:47.065 I think one of the takeaways from her act was that we should be generous. 00:18:47.097 --> 00:18:54.964 I don't think that's the main point of that, but it's a powerful model of be generous, especially when God has worked in your life. 00:18:54.964 --> 00:19:00.964 Pour out, show your generosity, show your gratitude in the way you're generous now. 00:19:00.964 --> 00:19:02.498 But that gets criticized here. 00:19:02.498 --> 00:19:05.397 Judas sees what she does, and he says, that's not right. 00:19:05.397 --> 00:19:11.132 What should have happened is we should have sold that and given that money to the poor, wouldn't that have been better use? 00:19:11.132 --> 00:19:15.964 Why would you waste it all on one person in one moment on his feet? 00:19:17.964 --> 00:19:24.498 And, you know, on its surface level, that's not necessarily a wrong criticism. 00:19:24.498 --> 00:19:31.231 I mean, I think many of us would be on the practical end of going, yeah, couldn't we have stewarded that money better? 00:19:31.231 --> 00:19:38.498 I mean, aren't there ways that we could use that in our view, more productive? 00:19:38.498 --> 00:19:45.932 I remember when we lived in Little Rock, we weren't attending this church yet, but it was the church we would eventually end up attending. 00:19:45.932 --> 00:19:49.698 And at the time they were building a new sanctuary probably a mile down the road from us. 00:19:49.698 --> 00:19:51.231 And it was huge. 00:19:51.231 --> 00:19:52.065 So huge. 00:19:52.065 --> 00:19:59.097 And it seems even bigger than it is because the lot they had wasn't very big, so they had to build up its kind of stacked on layer after layer after layer. 00:19:59.097 --> 00:20:01.998 So it really stands out of how tall it is. 00:20:03.132 --> 00:20:04.964 One of my neighbors, she was kind of new agey. 00:20:04.964 --> 00:20:07.832 I remember her saying to me, What are they doing? 00:20:07.832 --> 00:20:13.597 Why are they spending all this money building that monstrosity when they could be helping people? 00:20:13.597 --> 00:20:16.932 And a friend of mine says if they're not listening, they're not listening. 00:20:16.932 --> 00:20:17.298 It's okay. 00:20:17.298 --> 00:20:19.531 So she wasn't looking for my feedback. 00:20:19.531 --> 00:20:23.964 She wasn't looking for my insight into how they might actually help people and build that. 00:20:23.964 --> 00:20:26.998 So I just said, You know what? Yeah, okay. 00:20:26.998 --> 00:20:32.765 But let me tell you, when the tornado hit our neighborhood a mile from there, they were there serving. 00:20:32.765 --> 00:20:34.565 Pour it out, giving. 00:20:34.565 --> 00:20:35.731 Come, stay here. 00:20:35.731 --> 00:20:36.664 Here's the center. 00:20:36.664 --> 00:20:41.798 The whole city convened at that church to serve that community. 00:20:43.198 --> 00:20:44.932 But a criticism is in that moment. 00:20:44.932 --> 00:20:47.432 Couldn't we have used that money better? 00:20:47.432 --> 00:20:49.432 Couldn't that money have gone to better things? 00:20:49.432 --> 00:20:50.531 Now Jesus hears that. 00:20:52.397 --> 00:20:58.865 And in fact, those and John gives us comment that that's not what really was going on in Judas, his heart. 00:20:58.865 --> 00:21:04.432 He didn't really care that much about the poor in fact, look at the next verse, verse six. 00:21:04.432 --> 00:21:11.531 He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:21:11.531 --> 00:21:13.231 And having charge of the money back. 00:21:13.231 --> 00:21:17.498 He used to help himself to what was put into it. 00:21:21.865 --> 00:21:26.565 There's a really good quote I had to capture and just put on screen for you that summarizes this. 00:21:26.565 --> 00:21:27.632 His name, Don Carson. 00:21:27.632 --> 00:21:30.298 He's a pastor, writer, teacher. 00:21:30.298 --> 00:21:31.132 Here's what he said. 00:21:31.132 --> 00:21:35.031 The comment on this, Gordon thought that a personal greed here's what's happening here. 00:21:35.031 --> 00:21:41.298 What we saw with Judas this was personal greed for material things masquerading as altruism. 00:21:43.231 --> 00:21:48.632 Let me appear to really care about the poor were really at the heart of that. 00:21:48.632 --> 00:21:52.698 I just want to make sure I get mine now. 00:21:52.698 --> 00:21:54.065 Sometimes that's what happens. 00:21:54.065 --> 00:21:59.664 I'm not saying that every time you ask questions about stewardship of money, that that's what's happening. 00:21:59.664 --> 00:22:01.531 But I think you know what I'm talking about. 00:22:01.531 --> 00:22:04.164 You've seen this happen. 00:22:04.164 --> 00:22:06.397 I appear to really care about something. 00:22:06.397 --> 00:22:13.031 But really beneath that, there's something the opposite of that at work. 00:22:13.031 --> 00:22:27.897 And I think the caution with this, the thing for us to be mindful of, be aware of your own heart tendencies that can be drawn away into a bad place. 00:22:28.765 --> 00:22:40.798 It was the greed and judas's heart that ultimately led him to a place of betraying Jesus because of that greed that was there that he allowed to continue. 00:22:42.498 --> 00:22:50.431 30 pieces of silver, which really wasn't that much money, became more important than following Jesus. 00:22:51.265 --> 00:23:01.597 I read that and we all got to step back and go, What is it in my heart that that that I allow to stay there that the enemy can use to draw me away easily? 00:23:01.931 --> 00:23:03.330 And look, it's not just Judas. 00:23:03.330 --> 00:23:12.498 I mean, it's a pretty common tale in churches and in other places for those who have access to the money to misuse the money. 00:23:12.498 --> 00:23:23.664 A friend of mine in a church, another town, another state, he said the person, the part time person, their money stole $15,000 from them. 00:23:25.464 --> 00:23:32.998 And I, I want to take a second and just say we have a lot of safeguards in place here to try to protect against that. 00:23:32.998 --> 00:23:34.897 I never handle any money. 00:23:34.897 --> 00:23:42.397 I mean, unless you force it into my hand to go into the offering box, I'm trying to always get, you know, go put it in the offering box, hand it to this other person. 00:23:42.397 --> 00:23:45.730 I'll never know how much you give unless you tell me for some reason. 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:47.730 If you want me to know, here's how much I gave. 00:23:47.730 --> 00:23:49.397 I'll never know otherwise I never check. 00:23:49.397 --> 00:23:50.464 No one gives me a report. 00:23:50.464 --> 00:23:53.230 I never see individual names and giving. 00:23:53.230 --> 00:23:56.631 We just look at the what, what's the bulk that we need to deal with and manage? 00:23:56.631 --> 00:23:58.530 Well, we have an accounting team. 00:23:58.530 --> 00:24:03.230 When the money comes in, they get together on Monday and they count it together in a group. 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:06.698 So you can see, okay, that person's count this, I'm counting that. 00:24:06.698 --> 00:24:11.765 And then someone else deposited it and then someone else checks the deposit records. 00:24:11.765 --> 00:24:12.597 And so we have lots. 00:24:12.597 --> 00:24:17.030 And then the elders get a report on all that and they look it over as well. 00:24:17.030 --> 00:24:23.330 So we try to put as many checks and balances in place, not because we don't trust these people. 00:24:24.498 --> 00:24:36.097 Part of it is just to make sure we're all being aboveboard, that we don't put any of us in a place where we can be succumb to temptation and where appearances even are in the right place. 00:24:36.097 --> 00:24:45.330 In fact, rarely heard my friend whose church where the lady stole$15,000, they found out and they confronted her. 00:24:45.330 --> 00:24:49.265 We know something doesn't add up here. 00:24:49.265 --> 00:24:51.330 And you know what she did? 00:24:51.330 --> 00:24:53.030 This is unheard of. 00:24:53.030 --> 00:24:56.131 She confessed to it and she said, I did that. 00:24:56.131 --> 00:24:56.664 And you know what? 00:24:56.664 --> 00:25:00.330 I'm going to pay it all back, plus 10%. 00:25:00.664 --> 00:25:03.298 And she did. 00:25:03.298 --> 00:25:05.330 And then the church brought her before the church. 00:25:05.330 --> 00:25:06.664 She confessed it to the church. 00:25:06.664 --> 00:25:07.631 She apologized. 00:25:07.631 --> 00:25:16.230 They restored her not to that job, but they restore order to the church. 00:25:16.230 --> 00:25:17.498 You're still a part of us. 00:25:17.498 --> 00:25:18.298 We love you. 00:25:19.298 --> 00:25:21.865 We care about you. 00:25:21.865 --> 00:25:23.830 And I said to him, you know, that wasn't a bad investment. 00:25:23.830 --> 00:25:24.931 Actually, that's not too bad. 00:25:24.931 --> 00:25:28.097 10%, That's better than you can get other places. 00:25:28.097 --> 00:25:30.631 Anyway, sad note. 00:25:30.631 --> 00:25:33.964 Not everyone in the church was happy about that, by the way. 00:25:33.964 --> 00:25:36.265 She should have gone to jail. 00:25:36.265 --> 00:25:39.065 She should have been more harshly punished. 00:25:39.065 --> 00:25:39.798 Again, I don't know. 00:25:39.798 --> 00:25:43.230 All the details of it, but I look at that and go, what a beautiful thing. 00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:44.865 How rare is that? 00:25:44.865 --> 00:25:55.530 Usually hear the opposite restoration, forgiveness, a beautiful picture. 00:25:55.830 --> 00:26:02.030 Our hope is that we don't open people up to the temptation that will lead them astray, even in the way we handle finances. 00:26:02.030 --> 00:26:04.698 But we all have to look at our own heart and go, Where is that area? 00:26:04.698 --> 00:26:06.964 Where I would be easily drawn astray. 00:26:09.030 --> 00:26:11.431 Judas's love was mis ordered. 00:26:11.431 --> 00:26:13.730 His love was for something else, not Christ. 00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:14.698 It was for money. 00:26:14.698 --> 00:26:15.365 And what is it? 00:26:15.365 --> 00:26:17.498 What is that love? 00:26:17.498 --> 00:26:19.530 Is it money? 00:26:19.530 --> 00:26:21.931 Is it possessions? 00:26:21.931 --> 00:26:23.265 Is it fame? 00:26:23.265 --> 00:26:25.065 Is it position? 00:26:25.065 --> 00:26:26.230 Is it books? 00:26:26.230 --> 00:26:29.530 I know that's the temptation for all of us out there. 00:26:29.530 --> 00:26:31.097 Maybe not. 00:26:31.097 --> 00:26:33.198 What is it for you? 00:26:33.198 --> 00:26:33.998 Be aware of that. 00:26:33.998 --> 00:26:37.065 Be mindful and open your life up to others. 00:26:37.065 --> 00:26:39.265 Make sure they know as well. 00:26:39.265 --> 00:26:42.265 Don't keep that hidden. 00:26:42.730 --> 00:26:48.230 So we had lavish love, disordered love. 00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:52.230 And then third, we're going to see how Jesus responds to this with a prioritized love. 00:26:52.230 --> 00:27:00.498 Let's look at the next set of verses here, verse seven Jesus said, Leave her alone. 00:27:00.498 --> 00:27:07.330 So that may she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. 00:27:09.464 --> 00:27:15.464 So Jesus says, Leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 00:27:15.631 --> 00:27:20.565 Part of the challenge here with this verse in particular is that it's difficult to translate. 00:27:20.565 --> 00:27:22.230 It's difficult to understand. 00:27:22.230 --> 00:27:25.198 You read this where he says so that she may keep it for the day. 00:27:25.198 --> 00:27:25.865 My burial. 00:27:25.865 --> 00:27:28.265 And you think, didn't she just pour it all out? 00:27:28.265 --> 00:27:32.230 What she's going to keep it for, how she's going to soak it back up? 00:27:32.230 --> 00:27:35.065 Maybe it's in her hair now, but what's she keeping? 00:27:35.065 --> 00:27:39.765 It's a little hard to understand and most translations translate it this way. 00:27:39.765 --> 00:27:42.065 I'm going to get in the weeds for just a second. 00:27:42.065 --> 00:27:52.163 That word keep shows up 16 other times in the book of John, and most of the time it's used with more of concepts than possessions. 00:27:52.163 --> 00:28:00.431 So, for instance, keep my word, keep my commandments, keep the Sabbath. 00:28:00.431 --> 00:28:09.998 It's not like he's saying store my word for later, preserve the Sabbath for later, hold on to the commandments for later. 00:28:09.998 --> 00:28:16.530 It has more of the idea of obey or follow practice. 00:28:16.530 --> 00:28:19.530 Order your life around it. 00:28:19.564 --> 00:28:24.530 And so, oddly enough, I don't often go to the message as a accurate translation. 00:28:24.530 --> 00:28:25.263 It's a helpful one. 00:28:25.263 --> 00:28:32.064 A lot of ways I love the message, but in terms of conveying the meaning of a word, I think it gets us a little closer. 00:28:32.064 --> 00:28:36.763 Look, I throw this translation up of this verse in the message translation Let her alone. 00:28:36.763 --> 00:28:42.663 She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. 00:28:42.963 --> 00:28:57.163 This is confirmed by the account of this in Matthew chapter 12, though, that up as well, Matthew 26 in pouring this ointment on my body that says this in Matthew and Mark, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 00:28:57.963 --> 00:28:59.397 And so it says leave her alone. 00:28:59.397 --> 00:29:05.498 She doesn't even realize what she's doing, but she's already celebrating my death to come. 00:29:05.498 --> 00:29:13.498 She's already preparing me for the day I need to die, even though she doesn't fully realize it. Leave her alone. 00:29:13.498 --> 00:29:17.463 The thing that she's doing is so important and. 00:29:17.463 --> 00:29:21.163 And no one really realizes it. 00:29:21.163 --> 00:29:35.763 And so what he says in this morning is you need to have properly in this moment to have properly prioritized worship his last statement to them around this the poor you have always with you, but you don't always have me. 00:29:36.663 --> 00:29:39.397 The poor are always going to be there, but you don't always have me. 00:29:39.397 --> 00:29:48.064 And the way we look at that, here is all of our programing comes after worship. 00:29:48.064 --> 00:29:52.564 The things we do to love, to serve, to give. 00:29:52.564 --> 00:29:55.564 They follow out of worship. 00:29:55.564 --> 00:29:58.698 We don't get that upside down. 00:29:58.698 --> 00:30:02.830 Caring for the poor is not a means unto itself. 00:30:02.897 --> 00:30:05.763 That's the doorway to the gospel. 00:30:05.763 --> 00:30:08.763 And Jesus is who we worship first and foremost. 00:30:08.763 --> 00:30:13.030 And our worship for Him leads to our service of others. 00:30:13.030 --> 00:30:17.698 I mean, if you if you don't worship him, why would you have a reason to care for the poor? 00:30:17.698 --> 00:30:19.263 Why would you ever care? 00:30:19.263 --> 00:30:23.530 Why would you give what you have to someone else who, for whatever reason, doesn't have of their own? 00:30:23.530 --> 00:30:26.064 What would be your motivation? 00:30:26.064 --> 00:30:45.830 And I know look, I've read lots of books by atheists and they talk a lot about why there's reasons to be good and have just been, as we've been working on a book called Overreach, which makes the case that most of what atheists call good is borrowing from the tradition of Christianity and Judaism that's been around thousands of years. 00:30:45.830 --> 00:30:47.463 How is can you say good? 00:30:47.463 --> 00:30:51.131 How can you say that anything's good? 00:30:51.931 --> 00:30:52.263 Why? 00:30:52.263 --> 00:30:54.564 What would be your motivation to care for the poor? 00:30:54.564 --> 00:30:56.198 It starts with worship. 00:30:56.198 --> 00:31:09.763 We worship him, and because of how much he's done for us, because of how much we love him, because he is preeminent, because he is the greatest, because he has radically changed our life, because of all that is why we serve. 00:31:11.798 --> 00:31:14.663 And look, we have a lot here to serve the poor. 00:31:14.663 --> 00:31:16.230 We have a food pantry. 00:31:16.230 --> 00:31:18.763 We have homeless ministry that goes out to meet people. 00:31:18.763 --> 00:31:20.431 We offer a home items. 00:31:20.431 --> 00:31:21.864 We have Benevolence Fund. 00:31:21.864 --> 00:31:24.131 We have deacons who serve the widows. 00:31:24.131 --> 00:31:25.864 And I could go on and on and on and on. 00:31:25.864 --> 00:31:28.463 But all of that flows from a place of worship. 00:31:29.830 --> 00:31:34.163 All of that flows from this example that Mary set. 00:31:34.998 --> 00:31:36.864 God, thank you for what you've done. 00:31:36.864 --> 00:31:38.763 Thank you for saving my brother. 00:31:38.763 --> 00:31:43.263 And ultimately thank you for dying on our behalf. 00:31:44.364 --> 00:31:50.931 In fact, this morning, we're going to remember what he did very intentionally by taking communion together. 00:31:50.931 --> 00:31:53.330 In fact, deacons, if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and slip it out. 00:31:53.330 --> 00:32:03.263 And preparing the elements for communion, Mary was remembering in advance what Jesus would do on our behalf. 00:32:03.263 --> 00:32:05.864 And now we do it after the fact. 00:32:05.864 --> 00:32:13.631 We come together and we remember his death and his burial, but also we proclaim his resurrection. 00:32:13.631 --> 00:32:19.198 And so this morning, what we'll do when we practice communion here at the church, we practice open communion. 00:32:19.198 --> 00:32:31.030 You don't have to be a member here to take communion if you know Christ, if you follow him, If there if there's been a point in your life when you say he is my savior, I commit my life to him, even though you haven't lived perfectly. 00:32:31.030 --> 00:32:37.330 If you would say I follow him, I'll call him Lord, then you can participate with us. 00:32:37.330 --> 00:32:40.330 And what'll happen is these men will pass around trays. 00:32:40.330 --> 00:32:44.763 And then there are two cups stacked on top of another one is the juice and one is the bread. 00:32:44.763 --> 00:32:49.597 Just take that cup that stack together, separate those and wait. 00:32:49.597 --> 00:32:55.298 And when everybody has theirs, we'll take them together and we'll go ahead and start passing that out, guys. 00:32:55.298 --> 00:33:00.163 And while that's being distributed, here's what I'd ask you to do. 00:33:00.364 --> 00:33:12.963 Take a moment and just pray and ask God in light of what we saw with Judas, ask him to just reveal what area of my heart am I hanging on to, what part of my life? 00:33:12.963 --> 00:33:16.431 And I said, Don't go there, Lord. 00:33:16.431 --> 00:33:22.830 What area have I said opened up to potentially being in a really bad place? 00:33:22.830 --> 00:33:31.096 Just pray for God to expose that and ask him to forgive you and spend time in just confession and receiving his forgiveness. 00:33:31.096 --> 00:33:31.297 All right. 00:33:31.297 --> 00:33:32.263 They're going to distribute that. 00:33:32.263 --> 00:33:51.297 And when it's all distributed, all leaders and taking it together, verse 23, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, he took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. 00:33:51.297 --> 00:33:53.196 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:33:53.196 --> 00:34:04.663 Let's take the bread together in the same way. 00:34:04.663 --> 00:34:10.030 He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. 00:34:11.231 --> 00:34:14.364 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:34:14.364 --> 00:34:20.463 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's Death until it comes. 00:34:20.463 --> 00:34:24.463 Let's take the cup together as well. 00:34:25.431 --> 00:34:33.164 God, we thank you for this remembrance of your life and death on our behalf. 00:34:33.364 --> 00:34:37.097 God help us to take it to heart today as we worship you. 00:34:37.097 --> 00:34:40.764 In fact, let's all stand together and we're going to continue in worship. 00:34:40.764 --> 00:34:42.331 We're going to sing another song together. 00:34:42.331 --> 00:34:51.797 And if there's anything you need prayer for, if you want to talk about what it means to follow Christ to be a part of this church, I'll be down front here. 00:34:51.797 --> 00:34:53.831 I'd love to talk with you. 00:34:53.831 --> 00:34:54.996 I'd love to connect with you. 00:34:54.996 --> 00:34:56.264 But, Andrew, go ahead and lead us now.