What is a King Worth? Jesus is Anointed & Betrayed

Lead Vocalist (Phoebe)

Welcome & Announcements (Sterling)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

3 announcements:

1) Harvest Fest, October 8 at 5:30 PM

2) Baptism Sunday, October 15

Please talk to an elder or contact the church office no later than next Sunday if you’re interested

3) Trunk or Treat, October 29

Last year we were blessed with an outpouring of the community coming. This year we have a plan in place to accommodate a larger crowd if that happens again and will be using the gym to filter long lines.

We will have refreshments and games inside.

Trunk or treat is a great opportunity to love our community and plant gospel seeds. It is an intentional way for us to remind Poquoson PBC is here and we care.

Right now we are in need of trunk sign ups and candy donations. Tasha will be at the door if you’d like to sign up

Call to Worship (Psalm 37:1-6)

Prayer of Praise (Tasha Tollison)

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Psalm 150 (Praise the Lord)

Prayer of Confession (Luke Waite), Failure to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength

Assurance of Pardon (1 John 1:9)

Holy, Holy, Holy

We Fall Down

Scripture Reading (Matthew 26:1-16)

Page 988 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Sterling)

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

There’s a big difference between having a driver’s license, and really knowing how to drive.

You can pass a driver’s examination and be authorized to drive by your state, and still not really know how to drive.

In fact, you can even be hired as a driving instructor and not really know how to drive.

Just ask the folks at Community Driving School in Lakewood Colorado.

Last month they hired a new employee as a driving instructor. And on his second day at the job this is what happened...

SHOW LEARN TO DRIVE PICTURE

Now, in this guy’s defense, he wasn’t actually teaching anybody how to drive when this happened. He was just minding his own business, trying to park his car. Besides, the sign says “learn to drive” not “learn to park.”

Sometimes those who should be instructing others, don’t know what to do themselves.

There’s a similar irony on display in our text this morning in Matthew 26.

At this point in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ value should be obvious.

He has walked on water, healed the sick, cast out demons, calmed storms, given sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, fed thousands, taught with authority, and even raised the dead.

He has repeatedly told His disciples that He is more than a mere man. He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God and He has been sent to rescue His people.

And yet, here we are just a few days before Jesus’ crucifixion and some people still don’t get it.

Those who should be able to instruct others don’t know what to do themselves.

The Big Idea I hope to show you from our passage this morning is that Jesus is worth more than anyone or anything.

And we see this truth developed over three scenes in our text.

In scene one the chief priests, who should’ve been teaching God’s people to treasure Jesus, are treasuring something else.

In scene three one of the disciples, who’s been trained by Jesus for three years, is treasuring something else.

And in the middle, a woman named Mary shows us what it looks like to treasure Jesus.

If you’re a Christian: I hope God will use these three scenes in His Word to deepen your love for Jesus.

If, like me, you often find yourself treasuring other things, may the Spirit convict you and restore you to your true treasure.

If you’re not a Christian, you probably don’t understand why Jesus is worth treasuring. I hope you’ll see the glory and beauty of Jesus as we study His Word together.

Let’s get started with scene one...

1) What the CHIEF PRIESTS Treasured (1-5)

Matthew 26:1-2—When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Jesus has just finished answering His disciples’ questions about the destruction of the temple and the end of the world, now He’s reminding them that Passover is coming.

The Passover was (and is!) an important festival to the Jewish people.

It’s sort of like their Independence Day, because it celebrates how God rescued His people from slavery to Egypt.

If you’re not familiar with that story you can read it in the first 13 chapters of the book of Exodus. Even if you know the story, it might help to re-read it this week since we’ll be talking about the Passover again next Sunday.

But what’s most important in Jesus’ words here is not the timing of Passover. The disciples knew that. What’s most important is the reminder that Jesus is going to die.

This is now the fourth time in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus has predicted His death.

Jesus has told His disciples what was going to happen—He would be arrested, flogged, mocked, and crucified.

He told them where it was going to happen—in the great city of Jerusalem.

He told them who would be responsible—both the chief priests and the Gentile rulers.

He told them why—He was dying to rescue His people.

But until now He hasn’t told His disciples when. Now He does. His death is going to be immediately after the Passover.

If it’s been challenging for you to process everything we’ve covered in Matthew 24-25, just imagine how hard it’s been for the disciples. And now, Jesus tells them in just a few days He’s going to be crucified. These guys have got to be absolutely stunned.

But instead of telling us how the disciples responded, Matthew shifts the focus to what’s happening on the other side of Jerusalem. Somewhere near the temple district, a group of religious elites are having a secret meeting in a luxurious palace...

Matthew 26:3—Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

Remember it was earlier that day when Jesus condemned these religious leaders for their hypocrisy in Matthew 23.

These guys are still hurting from Jesus’ words, but instead of examining themselves they seethed in anger.

By the way, one of the most dangerous things about pride is that proud people never learn because they never listen. They never self-reflect or self-examine. They don’t know how to receive criticism. They either pout and say “I’m just the worst ever!” or they lash out and point the finger at somebody else.

Instead of meeting to self-examine, or pray for forgiveness, or keep each other accountable, the religious leaders are plotting revenge...

Matthew 26:4–5—and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

The religious leaders are absolutely determined to kill Jesus. They hate Him!

But they want to do it quietly.

They think Passover week is a bad time to kill Jesus because the city of Jerusalem is teeming with visitors who traveled there for the festivities.

Think New York City on New Year’s Eve. The city is crammed with visitors!

They’re worried that trying to kill Jesus during Passover week will create “an uproar among the people.”

But why do they care?

The answer is found in the gospel of John.

If you’re new to Christianity, it’s important to know there are four books—called gospels—that tell the story of the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Think of these four books like four different cameras on a football field. They’re all witnessing the same events, but each has slightly different details because they’re focusing on different things.

In the gospel of John, we learn a few more details about this meeting...

John 11:47–48—So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

The religious leaders are worried about an uproar among the people because the Roman rulers will act swiftly to crush any uprising.

And if the Romans have to suppress a Jewish uprising, they could lose their temple. They could lose their palace. They could lose their positions of status and power. They could lose everything.

So what do the religious leaders treasure? They treasure their positions. They treasure their power. They treasure their control over the people.

And since Jesus is a threat to all those things, they must put Him to death.

The religious leaders are the perfect example of the evils of abusive leadership.

Abusive leaders aren’t transparent. They want to control the narrative. They want to work in secret.

Abusive leaders are self-serving. Rather than giving of themselves to serve their people, they use their people to serve themselves.

Abusive leaders are manipulative. They will plot and scheme to maintain control.

Abusive leaders are deadly.

If you’re in leadership—whether in the home, the workplace, or the church—examine yourself! Are there any traces of this sort of behavior in your life? Repent!

If you’re under leadership (and all of us are!) fight against the temptation to be skeptical of all leaders! God’s Word doesn’t condemn authority, just bad authority! Wherever you have good authority, thank God and thank those leaders!

Before we move on from this first scene, I want you to see the beauty and glory of Jesus here.

It’s really easy to look at what happens next and walk away thinking that these abusive leaders win. They get exactly what they want!

Eventually Jesus will be arrested and killed and they will keep their stranglehold on power.

But if you look carefully, Matthew is telling us that these guys aren’t really in control at all. Jesus is!

They were determined that Jesus wouldn’t die until after the weeklong Passover feast. But when did Jesus die?

Exactly when He said He would!

The very night Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover was the same night Jesus was betrayed and arrested. He would die the next day, with millions of people still in the city.

So don’t treasure your power! If you do you’ll lose in the end. Treasure Jesus, because even when He appears weak He is absolutely in control!

Jesus is worth more than anyone or anything.

But even though the chief priests should’ve have known better, they did not treasure Jesus.

But what is even more stunning is that one of Jesus’ disciples made the same error...

2) What JUDAS Treasured (14-16)

We’re going to skip over verses 6-13 for now, and look at what happens next in the chief priests’ secret meeting.

Matthew 26:14–16—Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

The story of Judas is one of the greatest tragedies in the Bible.

He was personally selected by Jesus to be one of the twelve disciples in His inner circle.

After three years with Jesus, Judas still betrayed Him.

Which is a good reminder that you can identify with Jesus for a long time and not really treasure Jesus.

Every Christian should look at Judas and say to himself, “But by the grace of God there go I!”

It will help us to examine our own lives if we understand why Judas betrayed Jesus.

The text says it was for thirty pieces of silver. That actually wasn’t a lot of money in Jesus’ day. Maybe a few hundred bucks at most.

But what’s even more significant is that thirty pieces of silver was the price set in the Law of Moses for a slave.

Which, if you think about it, tells us everything we need to know about Judas.

In Judas’ mind, Jesus was like his slave. Someone whose purpose was to accomplish what Judas wanted. Jesus was just a means to an end.

Perhaps Judas followed Jesus in hopes that Jesus would overthrow Rome. Or perhaps Judas followed Jesus so he could pocket a few extra bucks here and there. Or perhaps he enjoyed the popularity.

Whatever the reason, once it was clear that Judas had no further use for Jesus, he was done with him.

So what does Judas treasure? He treasures Jesus as a means to an end. He treasures what he can get. He treasures money. He treasures what he wants. He treasures himself.

The truth is, the Judas mentality is more common than you think.

How many people have followed Jesus for what they can get? As a means to an end?

“If I follow Jesus He’ll fix my marriage. Or help me be a better parent. Or help me overcome addiction. Or heal my cancer. Or help me feel happy. Or give me wealth or success.”

And then, once they realize that following Jesus is no guarantee that any of these things will happen in this life, they’re done.

Are you looking to Jesus as a means to an end? Are you discouraged or disappointed because He’s not delivering? Could it be that the thing you want Jesus to do for you is your real treasure, instead of Jesus Himself?

But before we move on from this scene, I want you to see the beauty and glory of Jesus here.

I remember hearing about a missionary who went to a remote tribe somewhere that had never heard anything about Jesus. As he began to tell the story, the tribe listened with rapt attention. They cheered when Jesus walked on water, when He raised the dead, and when He entered the city on Palm Sunday. But when Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, was revealed as a traitor they were absolutely shocked!

Why doesn’t it shock us? Because we’re so familiar with the story.

When you watch Frozen now, you know that Hans is the bad guy. You’re not fooled when you hear him singing “Love is An Open Door.” But the first time? You were shocked!

Do you know who wasn’t shocked at Judas’ betrayal? Only Jesus.

John 6:64b—… Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.

What does that tell us about Jesus? It shows us that He is sovereign. Even though Judas is making real, free decisions, all those decisions are fulfilling Jesus’ plan.

It also tells us that Jesus is love. Next week we’ll notice that even the disciples were surprised by Judas’ betrayal. Which suggests Jesus treated Judas with the same tenderness that He treated everybody else. Even though He knew!

So don’t treasure Jesus as a means to an end. Don’t treasure yourself. Treasure Jesus, because even when He appears weak He is the perfect example of sovereignty and love!

Because Jesus is worth more than anyone or anything.

But even though Judas should’ve have known better, he did not treasure Jesus.

But don’t lose heart, friend. Because there is someone who did...

3) What MARY Treasured (6-13)

The final scene in our story is actually a flashback. We know this because John 12 says it happened six days before the Passover.

So why does Matthew place the story here?

Because he’s making a theological point.

On either side of this story you have villains treasuring something else instead of Jesus. And in the middle, is this woman. She is the only one in the story who treasures Jesus rightly!

Now we need to be careful to think like a first century Jew right here.

Today it’s not shocking at all to tell a story with a female hero surrounded by male villains. In fact, it seems like women are the heroes in most of our popular stories these days.

But that is NOT the way things were in Jesus’ day.

There was a popular prayer many Jewish men prayed in those days. The prayer goes like this: “I thank God that I’m neither a Gentile, a slave, or a woman."

Now the Bible doesn’t teach us to ever pray anything like that! I only share that prayer because it shows how many people wrongly thought about women in those days.

In the 21st century many people are impressed by Matthew’s inclusion of this woman here. But Matthew’s original audience would NOT have been impressed.

Dear friend, have you considered this as one more reason why you should trust the Bible? If Matthew made these stories up, He wouldn’t have painted this woman in such a positive light. He would’ve chosen a strong man to be one of the people who got things right.

But Matthew doesn’t do that. Why? Because Matthew didn’t make this up. It’s what actually happened!

So what did happen? Let’s take a look...

Matthew 26:6—Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Wait a minute! I thought lepers were unclean! How is this guy Simon hosting a dinner party?”

The most logical explanation is that Simon was a former leper, whom Jesus had healed. Perhaps he had been a leper for so long that the name stuck. But now, he’s healed and hosting Jesus and all His disciples over for dinner.

Look what happens next...

Matthew 26:7—a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

John 12:3 tells us the woman in this story was a woman named Mary.

But what is she pouring on Jesus’ head?

Let’s see if John's account can clear things up for us. John 12:3 says it was made from… pure nard?

For some of you, the only nard you’ve ever heard of is Andy Bernard in The Office.

What’s nard? It’s an oil made from a rare, fragrant plant that grows only in the Himalayan mountains.

Young people: think essential oils. Older people: think perfume.

But why is she pouring it on Jesus’ head?

For a 1st century Jew, pouring oil on somebody’s head was profoundly significant. Kings were set apart for service by oil being poured on their heads.

Even in 2023, when King Charles III was crowned king he was anointed with oil.

By pouring oil on Jesus’ head, Mary is recognizing Jesus as the King of Kings!

Now you would think everybody would approve what Mary’s doing. Let’s take a look...

Matthew 26:8–9—And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

Why were the disciples so furious?

John records a few details that will help us understand:

John 12:4 says Judas was the one who made the comment to Mary.

Judas was the group’s treasurer, and unbeknownst to everybody he was stealing from the group.

But even though Judas was the one who said those words, all the other disciples were feeling the same way.

They were all indignant.

John 12:5 tells us the bottle of oil was worth 300 denarii, which is basically one year’s wages.

So figure out in your head how much you make a year. Then imagine spending that amount on a bottle of perfume (or essential oil if that’s your thing) and then pouring the whole bottle out on Jesus’ head and feet.

I bet if you’re honest many of you are tempted to agree with the disciples.

Think of all the poor people we could help?!? Or what we could do with our building renovations?!? Or how many missionaries we could send?!? Or all the staff we could hire?!? All the adoptions we could sponsor?!? Or all the good we could do in our community?!?

But no matter how much you agree with the disciples, Jesus says you’re wrong!

Matthew 26:10—But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.”

Instead of joining His disciples and rebuking Mary, Jesus rebukes His disciples.

He encourages Mary. What you’ve done is beautiful.

And then He explains why Mary was so right and the disciples were so wrong...

Matthew 26:11—“For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”

Jesus is NOT saying we shouldn't care for the poor.

The New Testament repeatedly urges Christians to care for the poor. Especially orphans and widows.

I was talking to one of our members Adam Hess about this a few months ago. Adam’s job is to help coordinate government response to poverty in our area. As we chatted about ways PBC can or should get involved, he shared with me something that has deeply troubled me. Almost all the churches involved in caring for the poor in Hampton Roads are theologically liberal churches. For whatever reason, many Bible-believing churches fail to care well for the poor in their communities. Even at PBC, we’ve got a lot of work to do in this area!

May the Lord raise up more men and women here with a passion to love and serve the poor in Poquoson and beyond! If that is something of a passion for you, please talk to me so we can get you involved with a team that’s devoted to outreach in our community.

If Jesus isn’t discouraging ministry to the poor, what is He saying?

He's saying it was right for Mary to treasure Him more. She had a unique opportunity to demonstrate her love for Jesus because He wouldn’t be with them much longer.

The disciples were not wrong to think of the poor. They were wrong to think of the poor as more valuable than Jesus.

Stop and think for a second about how crazy that is… if Jesus is just a man.

He is basically saying, “It’s better to pour $80,000 down the drain as an act of devotion to Me than to feed hundreds of hungry families.”

Anybody who says something like that is either one of three things. He’s either mentally insane, a villainous egomaniac, or Someone more valuable than anything we can fathom!

Anybody who says these things is either God in human flesh, or a horrible human being.

The New Testament clearly and repeatedly tells us that Jesus is God.

Colossians 1:15–17—[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

If you remain unconvinced that Jesus is God, we’d love to walk through a simple course called Christianity Explained that demonstrates from the Bible why Christians believe this. Please talk to me or another pastor if you’re interested.

The fact that Jesus is God is massive. This is the sort of thing that, if you truly believe it, will absolutely change your life.

But what Jesus says next may be even more earth-shattering...

Matthew 26:12—“In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.”

Now we’ve already heard Jesus mention His death once in our text.

But isn’t it incredible to see it again right on the heels of such a powerful claim to be God?!

Jesus is saying He’s God AND He is going to die.

That’s crazy! Why would God need to die?

The Bible says all of us have a problem called sin. It’s all the ways we’re disobedient to God.

And because God is a just judge (we learned about that last week), He cannot simply overlook our sin. It must be punished.

That’s really bad news! It means that all of us are doomed to be separated from God forever!

Unless someone pays our penalty.

But who can do that? I certainly can’t pay your penalty because I have my own sin to deal with. Your parents can’t pay your penalty because they’re sinners too. The Bible says...

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

The only One who can pay your penalty is Someone of immeasurable worth who doesn’t have any sin of His own. The Bible says that...

God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus came to this earth as a baby. He lived a full human life without sin. And then He died on the cross to pay our penalty.

Only God can live a life without sin. And only a human can die. So Jesus became the God-Man. And He came to this earth to die in our place!

If you’re new here, and wrapping your mind around all this is hard for you, that’s totally fine! None of us understood these things the first time we heard them either.

Even Jesus’ disciples are struggling to understand why Jesus is going to die, and they’ve spent virtually every waking moment with Him for three years!

But Mary gets it! She anointed Jesus not only to proclaim Him King, but to prepare Him for burial.

When seemingly nobody else was getting it, Mary got it!

Jesus honors her for this in...

Matthew 26:13—Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

Jesus’ words are being fulfilled in this very room this morning. Far away from Bethany, two thousand years later we’re still talking about this woman!

Jesus is worth more than anyone or anything.

So what practical lessons about treasuring Jesus as we conclude?

First, we should treasure Jesus publicly.

Judas and the chief priests meet in darkness.

But Mary treasures Jesus publicly. She doesn’t whisper to Him in a corner. She doesn’t hide her faith. She walks into this dinner party—which was probably crammed with people—and anoints Jesus in front of everybody.

In the same way, Jesus expects His followers today to treasure Him publicly.

But how? He’s not physically here for us to pour oil on His head. Besides, He’s already died and risen from the dead!

Today Christians publicly declare their allegiance to Jesus through believer’s baptism. If you have turned from your sins and trusted in Jesus, but you haven’t been baptized as a believer I want to encourage you to talk with me or another pastor about that very soon!

BAPTISM SLIDE

But what if you’ve already been baptized? Do you still need to publicly declare your allegiance to Jesus? Yes! We do that through our membership in a local church where we follow Jesus alongside His people.

If you’re not a member of a gospel-preaching local church, why not? What is holding you back?

If you are a member here at PBC or elsewhere, are you faithfully involved in your church? Are you publicly displaying your affection for Jesus by how you love His sheep?

Second, we should treasure Jesus sacrificially.

Judas and the chief priests will gladly sacrifice Jesus to keep what they have.

But Mary gladly gives what she has to treasure Jesus.

She doesn’t bring Jesus a half-emptied bottle of sandalwood oil, or spray Him with Axe Body Spray. She spares no expense to show her devotion to Jesus.

In the same way, Jesus expects His followers today to treasure Him sacrificially.

We sacrifice our time by faithfully gathering with God’s people for worship, fellowship, and service.

We sacrifice our resources by faithfully giving to support the church.

We sacrifice our energy by going above and beyond to serve His people, even when it’s hard or we’re tired.

We sacrifice our desires by obeying His Word even when we are tempted to disobey.

How is Jesus calling you to treasure Him sacrificially? What do you need to let go of today?

Third, we should treasure Jesus truly.

Here’s what I mean. Sometimes we think that unless we can do something perfectly we might as well not even try.

And we see an example like Mary’s and we say “I could never do that,” so we give up before we even start.

But hear me: Mary was a sinful woman. She didn’t treasure Jesus perfectly any more than you and I can!

But she did treasure Jesus truly. And the fact that she too was a sinner means that there’s hope for you and me!

We CAN treasure Jesus truly!

What steps do you need to take to treasure Him more today? What sins do you need to confess? What idols in your life do you need to smash? Who can come alongside you to help you as we strive to treasure Jesus together?

Finally, we should treasure Jesus together.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “this would be much easier if Jesus was physically here.

This is why we study books of the Bible.

“As you’ve done to the least of these My brothers, you’ve done it unto Me!”

As you pour out public, sacrificial, true love on Jesus’ people, you ARE doing it for Him!

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Christ is Mine Forevermore

Prayer for Luke and Emily Waite

Benediction (Philippians 4:19-20)