Sermon Central
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Worship, Fellowship & Service Series
Contributed by Jimmy Davis on Sep 19, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: Picture # 13 in series: The 14 Candid Snapshots of the Maturing Christian as found in the Gospel of John. A picture of the maturing Christian’s worship, fellowship & service. Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Picture # 13: Worship, Fellowship, & Service
The number 3 is a divine number.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus ate a meal with Mary, Martha and Lazarus (again a divine number of people).
Worship:
A picture of pure worship is the picture of Mary wiping the feet of Jesus with her hair.
Worship must be learned; we do not automatically know how to worship.
Worship is like honey in that you cannot tell another how sweet honey is until he or she experiences the sweet taste for themselves.
When Mary brought her offering to Jesus, her offering was the equivalent of about one year’s salary, and she poured it upon Jesus.
Mary’s offering was very precious to her.
Mary was always at our Lord’s feet.
In Luke 10:38-42, she sat at Jesus’ feet to hear Him teach.
In John 11:32, Mary knelt at the feet of Jesus in sorrow over the death of her brother Lazarus.
Here, in John Chapter 12, Mary is again at Jesus’ feet with her offering of perfume, wiping the feet of Christ with her hair.
What a wonderful place to be found - at the feet of Jesus.
Have you been there lately?
Have you given anything to the Lord recently that really cost you something?
Jesus wants to use for His purposes whatever you own and are willing to lay at His feet.
Most people would have just dipped their finger in the perfume and dabbed a little bit of it on Jesus, but Mary gave all that she had, the entire alabaster jar of pure spikenard ointment (a pound), and the entire house was filled with the odor of the ointment (Greek).
A God honoring offering is not only precious to the one giving it, but it’s pleasant to others, as the whole house was filled with the fragrance.
Your gifts to the Lord Jesus have the ability to have an effect upon other people too.
An offering that honors the Lord Jesus Christ must be something precious and dear to us.
Jesus never once refused worship of Himself while He was here on earth.
Worship is not an intellectual act, but instead is a spiritual act, and an attitude of the heart.
Service:
A picture of pure service is seen in this picture of Martha.
Martha let her hot biscuits and fried chicken do the talking for her as she worshiped the Lord with her service.
When a person is blessed by God, he or she will worship the Lord in some form of service.
We must learn how to serve Jesus, we do not automatically know how to serve.
There are many different and unique ways to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and the believer must learn to serve in the area of his or her calling.
Fellowship:
A picture of pure fellowship is the picture of Lazarus in fellowship with Jesus.
We must learn to have fellowship with Jesus, we do not automatically know how to have fellowship.
Lazarus is the same man who had been dead for 4 days.
Martha said that Lazarus was not only dead, but he stinketh.
When our sin no longer stinketh before the nostrils of God we are then able to have sweet fellowship with Jesus.
Fellowship with Jesus is only possible by recognizing the weapons of our spiritual warfare that are provided to us by the power of God (Proverbs 25:28).
Fellowship with Jesus is only possible when we worship the Lord Jesus, and we are willing to give to Him some type of service from our heart.
One little boy who didn’t have any money to drop in the offering plate, grabbed an Usher by the arm one Sunday morning, and he made the Usher place the offering plate down on the floor in the aisle of the church.
Then the little boy stepped in the offering plate and said, “Jesus, I don’t have any money to give you, but I give you me.”
This is the 13th candid snapshot of the maturing Christian.
Worship, Service, and Fellowship.
Notice that there is always some opposition to our worship, service, and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, as Judas, one of the disciples complained that the ointment should have been sold for about 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor.
Judas didn’t say this because the poor mattered to him.
The poor did not matter to Judas, but he said that because he was a thief, and he was the one who carried the bag of money, taking from this bag what he wanted.
Continue to read as you explore the 14th Candid Snapshot of the maturing Christian, and the Private ministry of Jesus, as found in John Chapters 13-21.
Rev. Jimmy Davis
Bayview Baptist Church
5300 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204
Telephone: 803-754-8690
Email: BayviewBaptist@aol.com
