Next month, we celebrate Easter Sunday. Today, I will talk about one thing that happened right before the cross, so that we can begin to return our focus on Jesus, His death, and His glorious resurrection. The one thing I think most about when I think about Jesus dying and then coming back is the promise of love He gave us. He said that He would return and take us with Him, back to Heaven. Other people see other things in the Easter story, however.
One Sunday school teacher was teaching about Easter, and she asked the children what Easter meant to them. One little boy raised his hand and said it meant two weeks of egg-salad sandwiches for lunch.
As we begin today’s message, I want to ask you a question, and I would like for every one of you to really think about the answer. Have you ever noticed that every thing Jesus did was for our benefit? For instance, nobody made Him leave the comforts of Heaven, but He did. Nobody made Him suffer brutality at its worst, but He did. Nobody made Him die, and nobody killed Him; He chose to die. He did all of these things and more, for our benefit, so that we might see and be reunited with God through Jesus.
There’s something else, too. Jesus is not only about perfection He is perfection. He lived a perfect life on this earth, and that enabled Him to die a perfect death, thereby securing a perfect salvation, all for you and me.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 says,
‘God made Him, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’
As I said, next month is Easter. And everything about Easter is about Jesus. One of the most important things we need to realize is that Jesus actually did defeat death. And, what I love the most is that Jesus will someday come back to collect us all, so that we too can defeat death and go home with Him.
Jesus was born for us; His ministry was for us; He died for us; He arose for us; and He will again come back - - for us! So, let me ask you a pointed question this morning. What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s sake? Or, put in simpler terms; what are you doing for Jesus?
MARK 14:1-9
‘Now, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill Him. ‘But not during the Feast’, they said, ‘or the people may riot.’
While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.
Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ And they rebuked her harshly.
‘Leave her alone’, said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have Me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on My body beforehand to prepare for My burial. I tell you the truth – wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’
Who was this lady that she should be remembered for all ages, and what did she do that was so special? Why didn’t Mark mention her name? We know from the other Gospel accounts that her name was Mary. And, because of what she did, God gave her status for all time. And, what she gave to Jesus, we also can give to Jesus. She gave Jesus true sacrifice, and she gave it out of love and honor.
From this passage, we can see that to properly service Christ, the first thing we need is …
1. A HEART THAT IS SENSITIVE TO JESUS
THE FIRST THING WE NOTICE is Mary’s heart. She had the kind of heart that yearned to be filled more and more with Jesus’ love.
The Mary we are talking about today is the same Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus when her sister Martha got upset that she wasn’t in the kitchen helping her. We could say that Martha represents the majority of Christians in as far as she viewed Jesus from the worldly perspective. She knew Jesus’ stomach, while her sister Mary knew Jesus’ heart. LUKE 10:38-42
She is the same Mary whose brother Lazarus died, and when she saw Jesus coming, she ran out and fell at his feet worshiping Him. Again, this Mary is showing her love towards the Son of God. JOHN 11:1-47
And she is the same Mary mentioned in today’s scripture; the one who poured expensive perfume upon Jesus. She did this because she worshiped Jesus and loved Him – in the way that all of should love Him. She knew that the light of mankind would soon be overshadowed by the darkness of death. This Mary had a heart that very sensitive to Jesus.
One example of why Mary was so sensitive to Jesus is when Martha was in the kitchen preparing a worldly meal, Mary was listening to Jesus, preparing her sensitive heart. She was feeding on the words of her Savior. We read about her three times in the Gospels, and each time, she is at the feet of Jesus. She was where we should be. She was where each of us need to be, too. She had spend enough time with Jesus to know that she needed to worship Him. And we will never know God’s will for our lives until we spend that time with Him, too. We need to take regular and frequent time with Jesus so we can let our hearts be sensitive to His love for us.
THE SECOND THING WE NOTICE is how Mary displayed her heart of sensitivity.
Going back to MARK 14:8, it says,
‘She did what she could. She poured perfume on My body beforehand to prepare for My burial.’
This Mary, the one who worshiped at the feet of our Lord knew that the cross was at hand. And she wanted to show her love to Jesus while she could – while He could still smell it and appreciate it. She did this because she knew that very soon she would not be able to do anything else for Him.
I want you to imagine something for a minute. Imagine that morning when the sun was beginning to awaken the sky, and the women were on their way to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ. They get there and the tomb is empty. They never got the chance to anoint Jesus, and had Mary not anointed Jesus before He died, his body would never have been anointed at all. Do you know why Mary’s deed was such a great deed? Mary not only did what she could, she did it when she could.
Changing pace for a second, I know that some of you get a little tired of my talking about evangelism as often as I do. But you must know that I do so because of two reasons. First, it is something we must do if we are to be obedient to God, and secondly, once we are gone we will be like the women who went to the tomb - - it will be too late to do it. The one thing that we will never be able to do in Heaven is to win someone to Christ. I believe we must do what we can, the best we can, all that we can, and when we can.
To properly serve Christ, we need more than a heart that is sensitive to Jesus. It also takes a …
2. A SACRIFICIAL HEART
Rereading MARK 14:3,
‘While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.’
What would your definition of a sacrifice be? It might mean different things to different people. Let me tell you what my definition of sacrifice is. You might have two coats, but if you give one of them up to someone who had no coat, that would not be a sacrifice. The reason is that you are not doing without something you really need or want. Now, if you only had one coat and you gave that away to someone who did not have a coat, that would be a sacrifice because you care about someone else enough to give them something you have need for.
If I have saved $10.00 a week for 10 years, I would have $5200.00 saved. If I gave $100.00 to someone else, that would not be a sacrifice because I would not be doing without by giving to them. Now, if I gave all of it to someone because I loved them that much, that would be a sacrifice.
Mary had very expensive perfume that she probably saved for a long time to get. And she broke the container and gave it all to Jesus, as an anointing, all because she loved Him that much. That was sacrifice. That was love.
Too many Christians today do not sacrifice – to God or to their fellow man. They might give of their excess, but they do not give of their essentials or of their treasures. But Mary gave her very best to Jesus. She knew God wanted her very best and her all, and that is what she gave. And that is what God wants from each one of us, too; our very best – our all.
Remember that God judges you by you. He does not grade on a curve, and He certainly does not expect one person to give in the same way or same amounts that another might give. He sees you, individually, and He expects to see you give your best, no matter what that might be. Remember that God was much more impressed with the widow’s mite than He was with the Pharisee’s gold. Why? Because one gave because of the rules, and the other gave because of a sacrificial heart.
And just because somebody is richer than you are, does not mean they can give more than you can give. Just because somebody might be more educated than you are, does not mean they are smarter or more capable than you are. God wants the same thing from the pauper that He does from the prince, and He wants the same thing from the first grader that He does from the Ph.D.
To paraphrase another, if you are going to offer Jesus that which cost you nothing, you are better off offering Him nothing. What does it take to really serve for Jesus?
It takes …
3. A SERVANT’S HEART
Mary was thinking only of Jesus when she broke that vase and poured that perfume all over his body. But before the last drop had hit the floor, she had to withstand blistering criticism from those around her.
In VERSES 4-5, we read,
‘Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.’
It is so hard to stay out from under the influence of the world, isn’t it? Even the disciples had that problem, and in these two verses, we see how they started griping and finding fault. It looks like they had problems with dissention even in Jesus’ day. Every group has what I call a “cold water committee.” These are the people who will always find fault with something. They will always find some way to throw cold water on anything they don’t like or understand. They always complain about what is being done or how it is being done.
I want to give all of you a fair warning this morning. You will never do anything worthwhile for Jesus without being severely criticized – especially by those in your own ranks. It has been said that if you aren’t doing anything to annoy the devil you won’t be bothered by him, but as soon as you try to do something for Jesus, the devil gets upset and he starts to attack you. And the one way he will attack you the most, is have people within your own church, or your own family, or within the ranks of your friends, find fault with you, reject you, try to get others against you, or some other form of dissention within the family of God. The reason is that, as humans, we seem to be more afraid of upsetting those people we know than we are about upsetting our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I promise you that this will happen to you if it has not already happened. How should you react when you are attacked by this devilish problem? Let’s see how Mary reacted to the criticism she received from the disciples. She just keeps quiet as Jesus defends her. I like that. When your motives are pure and you are right, don’t even acknowledge the person or their criticism. You do not owe anyone an explanation to anyone when you are working for Christ.
In VERSE 6, we see Jesus as He defends her.
‘Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me.’
The disciples rebuked her very harshly for what they saw as a waste. Jesus rebuked them just as harshly because He saw that she had done it because she loved Him. This tells me that it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks about me, as long as I am trying to please Jesus.
Notice how Jesus did not say this was a big or famous work. He said it was a beautiful work. Why would he say that? There is an age-old controversy about the works that a Christian is supposed to do. This verse answers that controversy. Let me explain.
People often think they have to be of great service to others. They will always be the first to volunteer their help; they will be the first to do whatever it takes to get the job done for other people, but too often, we find something else. The same people who do this are often the first people to complain later about having to do it, or they will be the first to let everyone else know how helpful they are. These people are generally the ones who feel their works will get them to Heaven. These people are sadly mistaken. It is not these kinds of works that get us to Heaven.
EPHESIANS 2:8 tells us it is by grace “THROUGH FAITH” that we have been saved. That means that it is not our works that get us to Heaven, but the works that are produced “BECAUSE OF OUR GREAT FAITH”. Let me say that again. Your works show that you are a nice person, but they do not, by themselves, get you to Heaven. It is the faith you have in God that changes your heart so you do good works because you have the love of others in your hearts – that is the kind of works that gain you entry into Heaven.
You will see the difference in that when others do things out of the faith in God, they will not complain later about having to do them and they will not feel the need to get the ‘attaboys’ by going around and letting others know how marvelous they have been to others.
Getting back to Mary, she never got her name in the papers and nobody outside that house knew what she did. She got rebuked because others thought instead of doing one small thing she should have sold the perfume and took the money to do many good things. One of the biggest problems facing our churches today is in the way we want to do things.
If any pastor asked any congregation for volunteers to come up and lay new cement sidewalks, or paint this or paint that, he would have volunteers a mile long. But if he asked for a person to teach Sunday school, or become prayer warriors for others, there would be few if any volunteers. Why is this? I think it is because people want to help when they get recognized for doing so. But if they are going to be doing something behind the scenes, where they will not be noticed, they start becoming reluctant to do so.
But throughout the Bible, it is consistently the small things that have made the biggest difference to God. Moses’ rod defeated the armies of Egypt. David’s small slingshot overcame the Giant. A few loaves of bread fed over 5,000 people. The key to doing anything for God is not in the big or famous things, but in the small and unseen acts of love. The things you do, not for notoriety or attaboys, but out of your love for Jesus.
Let me say this: It is my opinion that the Christian who cannot be trusted with the small things they do have, will never be trustworthy with any of the larger things they covet. But Mary could be trusted. She gave what she could, or all that she had, for the Lord’s sake because she loved Him. The only thing that Jesus expects from us is to be willing to do everything we can, no matter how big or how small.
Many people today are doing what they can, but they are doing it for themselves and not for Jesus. That is the primary distinction between the fruitful and the unfruitful works. They are striving to do something but do not realize that they are doing it wrong.
A preacher was walking home one evening after dark. As he came upon the streetlight, he saw a small boy on his hands and knees looking all around the lighted area frantically trying to find something. He asked the boy what he was looking for, and the boy said he had lost the $10.00 his mother gave him to go to the store with.
The preacher asked him if he had lost it here, and the boy said he had not. He said he had lost it across the street, but it was too dark over there to find anything. And that is like many churchgoers today. They are frantically trying to be good Christians, but do not realize that they are doing it wrong. They don’t realize that all they have to do is to humble themselves to Jesus. To let Jesus come rushing in. To have a heart that is both sensitive to the love of Jesus and is willing to sacrifice your desires for His desires. And you must have a heart that yearns to serve Him – even in the unseen and small areas of servitude.
When you think of doing something, what is your first thought? Is it about doing something for Jesus, or is it about doing something that will justify your standing in other people’s eyes? Or, are you giving all that you can, and with all the right focus on Jesus?
INVITATION
