"WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED"
by Robert E. Dyson
Pastor, Mt. Holy Baptist Church
Tonight I want to continue preaching through the book of John. I want for us concentrate our focus on the first of three key events surrounding the last days of the life of Jesus. First, the supper that was held in his honor in Bethany, Second, the Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when he fulfills the prophecies of Zechariah concerning the King of the Jews. Thirdly, John focuses on the reaction of Jesus to a group of Greeks whom asked to see him while he was in the city to celebrate the Passover.
Tonight from Jn 12: 1 - 3, I want to speak from the subject of "WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED".
JN 12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Introduction
Have you every greeted a fellow Christian or neighbor with the question how are you doing only to be told by him or her I am blessed? It has become a common experience to here people talk about how blessed they are. This common occurrence has caused me to pause here to night and for a few moments take a look and see what happens to a person when they really have been blessed by God. I must confessed that the problem that I had was that a lot of people
That I hear spouting and shouting I am blessed are fellowship dropouts, and they manifest no visible commitment to Christ, The church or the things of God. So this created a dilemma for me, I had their public profession of blessedness on one hand and the absences of faithfulness and obedience on the other.
Let me clearly state that I don’t believe we have to wear crosses, priest collars or wear sign around of necks to let people know that we are children of God and that we are blessed. The bible, the bible says in Mt 5:16 let your light so shine before men. This is the mandate that we operate under and it comes directly from the master. The songwriter said, "Oh what a wonderful change has come into my life since Jesus came into my life", and tonight I want to look at this text and lift out some timeless principals from this portrait of a blessed family. In our last message Jesus was calling Lazarus from the grave. Tonight John begins his countdown to the crisis of the cross, by continuing the sequel to the resurrection of Lazarus. Walk with me, for a moments if you will.
Body
John introduces the sequel to us in the closing verses of Chapter 11:
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?" Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him. {John 11:55-57 RSV}
I believe these verses are important to our understanding of our text because they convey the atmosphere that prevailed in Jerusalem just before this Passover. Josephus, the Jewish historian, has written that during the Passover the population of the city frequently rose to more than three million people. Now, remember if you will that there were no hotels (Holiday Inns)or motels(Circle 8’s) to accommodate these vast numbers, so people camped out on the hillsides, stayed with friends, or rented or if fortunate borrowed homes. They came from all over Palestine and also from many foreign countries, coming, as John writes, to "purify themselves" in anticipation of the Passover and as John declares of some "they were looking for Jesus." I would that you understand that by this time Jesus had become notorious throughout the whole countryside. I submit unto you that Jesus had become the orginal public enemy number one or bad boy. He was the sensation of the nation, men and women everywhere were talking about Jesus. No group could gather anywhere without the conversational topic focusing in on Jesus. The talk was so much so that the Pharisees had put out a warrant for his arrest. Let’s imagine for a moment, can you hear the religious patrol passing the word Attention! Attention be on the look out for Jesus. Hair like lams wool, feet like brass coals, eyes so lovely yet like fire, last know address Nazzareth. Attention be on the look out, suspect is considered dangerous can’t you hear them. As far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, he was Public Enemy No. 1. If we imported this sence into our modern culture his picture would be up in the post office, his picture would be flashing across the television screens. A special edition of America’s Most Wanted would be aired featuring Jesus. The pilgrims now gathering for the feast wondered if he would dare show himself in defiance of the authorities. Thus we see the a group whom I will call the curious, they were uncertain as to whether or not he would appear, they were on the lookout for the notorious prophet from Galilee whom had been painted with a dark brush by the propaganda campaign of the powers that be of that day.
I submit to you that whenever a well-known personage is likely to appear today the curious gather to get a look at him. If Bill Clinton or Mike Tyson were here tonight there wouldn’t even be standing room in this place! There’s something about our humanity that makes us want to "eyeball" famous people. We are not content with a description. We’re not even satisfied with seeing them on television. We want to actually look upon them. The curious crowd is the first group that John introduces to us in this account.
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The curious are doubtless hear even tonight. They want to hear more about this intriguing, mysterious figure called Jesus the Christ. John shines his spotlight on a second group in the opening words of Chapter 12:
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Jesus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. {John 12:1-3 RSV}
Here, again we see Jesus in the presence of old friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Here in Bethany they are preparing a special supper for Jesus, not in their own home, but, as we learn from the other gospels, in the home of Simon the leper. We don’t know anything about this man, other than the fact that he had been a leper. It is highly likely that he had been healed by Jesus, otherwise he could not have hosted this supper. There is an implication here that Simon had been touched by Jesus, delivered and freed from his disease. Filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for what our Lord had done for him, Simon took this opportunity, despite the fact that there was a warrant out for the arrest of the guest of honor, to serve a private supper for Jesus and his intimate friends. I believe we can all understand how Simon felt.
His endless nights had been changed to day, he had gone from agony to extacy, from pain to praise, from hell to hope. Yeah, and whenever you have been with Jesus there will be a desire to do something to please him after he has lifted you from the miry clay of despair, defeat and destruction.
There is a another reason couched in this text that I believe that John wants us to be aware of , that influenced his reason for the inclusion of this passage in his gospel account. I believe John wanted us to understand something of what real worship is. The commentators have pointed out that in Verses 2-3, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are each doing something characteristic of themselves. Martha is serving; and Lazarus is "with" Jesus at the table (i.e., he is fellowshipping with him); while Mary anoints his feet with a pound of very expensive ointment and wipes them with her hair.
Well , Walk with
For a moment, pay close attention to the text. Here we find Martha served, Lazarus fellowshipped, and Mary gave . Whenever you really have been blessed by God John says first,
I. there will be worship in the form of service. The first element of a blessed life is worship in the form of service.
Worship, when you can’t say a word…..tears in your eyes and hurt in your heart……worship
Worship, when your friends turns their backs on you- worship…..
Worship is the center of the Christian life, and it can take various forms. Martha did what she was most comfortable doing -- she served. She, like many among us, found it difficult to express in words how she felt about the Lord, but she loved to serve. She let her hot biscuits and gravy do the talking for her! When it comes from a heart like Martha’s, that’s eloquent language! Some say I can’t speak, but there is something you can do. Let whatever you can do for Christ
Speak for you. On another, less successful occasion, Martha tried to put together a spur-of-the-moment meal for Jesus. On that occasion everything seemed to fall apart. She was anxious, troubled, and worried, trying to do too much. Finally, she exploded like ticking time biomb and blamed the whole mess on Jesus, saying to him, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me," {Luke 10:40 RSV}. In that little story in Luke 10 is captured the feeling of many of us, when fell overwhelmed and things are falling apart, but not this time, in Simon’s house. Now she’s glad, filled with love for Jesus, rejoicing with her sister over the return of their beloved brother Lazarus whom has been emancipated and liberated from the domain of death by the power of our Lord Jesus. Martha expresses that love in her service at this supper.
Martha worshipped the Lord with her service and I submit that whenever a person has been blessed by God, they Will worship him in some form of service.
Lazarus, we read, was one of those "with" Jesus. To be with the Lord means to be in fellowship. The second element of a blessed life is worship in the form of fellowship.
Lazarus, was the one who, just a few weeks ago, had been dead for four days. Yeah martha said not only was he dead, but he was stinking. We can only imagine what the media today would do with a story like that. Lazarus, would receive calls from CBS, NBC and ABC. Movie and
Book deals would be on the table but ironically I want you to notice that in this account he is hardly featured at all. He is content to be "with" Jesus, recalling his power, rejoicing in his companionship, sensing the glory of his presence. That too is a form of worship. This is what we are reminded to do in the Scriptures, to "remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead," {cf, 2 Tim 2:8}. He is "with" us everywhere we go. That’s worship, that’s fellowship, holding all things in companionship with him. Lazarus drew no attention to himself. He just worship the Lord with his fellowship and I submit that whenever a person has been blessed by God, II. they will worship the Lord in the form Fellowship. Later in this account we learn that he too was in danger. The chief priests had decided not only to put Jesus to death, but they are so bad that they put a hit out on Lazarus also. As far as I know, he is the only person in Scripture to have died twice. Here, however, he is content to be openly and publicly associated with the proscribed person of Jesus of Nazareth. That is worship in the form of fellowship.
This brings us to the final point I want to make tonight and that is not only will a blessed life be revealed by worship through service and worship through fellowship, but a blessed lfe will also be revealed by worship though giving. Mary took a pound of costly ointment and poured it on Jesus. Later, Judas complains about the extravagance of using what, in effect, it was a year’s pay for a laborer, to anoint the feet of Jesus. In today’s inflated terms, this ointment would have been worth perhaps $35,000. This costly perfume was derived from a special plant which grew only in India. Think about it, somebody had to travel all the way from palestine to india, go up in the mountains and get this perfume. Somehow Mary had obtained a whole pound of it, and rather than take it to the saftey deposit box, she acted out of love and joy. Her heart was so filled with joy and thanksgiving that she broke the narrow neck of the alabaster jar containing the ointment and poured the whole pound upon Jesus until the fragrance filled the whole house. According to the other gospel accounts, she anointed his head first, (which means she worship him as king first) you need to make him the king in your life. As the song writer said "Jesus, when burdens weigh me down, Jesus he is my king." The ointment ran down along his body until it covered his feet. Then she unbound her hair and wiped up the excess ointment with it. I submit that Mary is a model of the fact that whenever a person has been blessed (III) Point. they will worship the Lord in the form of giving.
John is particularly aware of the significance of this act. For in the accounts in Matthew and Mark, in response to Judas’ protest of what he regarded as a waste, Jesus is reported as saying to Judas, "Let her alone. She has done a beautiful thing to me. Wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, this deed shall be spoken of in memory of her," {cf, Matt 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9}. And John sees this as symbolically filling the whole house of the world with the fragrant perfume of worship that gives all to Christ. Here Mary is expressing in this action all that is in her heart. I find it significant that when mary worshiped the external atmosphere modeled the internal atmosphere of her heart. That what corporate worship is, when we fill the room with the praise that is in our heart.
She spared no expense, she cared nothing for the customs of the day, entering into a supper where women were usually not welcome, letting down her hair in public, an unthinkable act in that culture, and openly expressing her love for Jesus. But that’s how love acts. It is uncaring of expense, and sometime requires that you let your hair down, and step over the ostickles of traditions and custom. The song writer asked the question "What shall I render, and what shall I give ?" let me anwser for all of you whom love him tonight if you don’t mind as I close.
Closing
We can give our lives! We can give our time, talent and treasure to the Lord, because when we think about his gift to us, when we think about what he did on calvary……
Because we have been blessed, ….. I will worship in service, with all my mind, soul and heart. I made up mind that I would serve the Lord, becuase he has been good to me.
Because I have been blessed, I will worship him in my fellowship, because I have been bessed I worship him in my giving. I realize that the more I give to him the more HE gives to me. I have been blessed! He keeps on blessing me, over and over continuously, he keeps on blessing me! Blessed! through the storm Blessed! and through the rain I am blessed…………
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