Extravagant Worship: The Cost of Love

Bible Passage: Jn 12:1–8

Introduction

To worship God in truth is to worship him as he commands.

R. C. Sproul

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word, “worship?”

For some it looks like:

Raising your hands.

Structured church service.

Something we go to (like church).

Today, I want to challenge that way of thinking.

What if worship means something completely different.

What if, instead looking at worship as something that we go to or attend we look at it as a posture of our heart?

Today, we are going to be seeing some familiar faces.

Lazarus

Martha

Mary

Judas

However, just like we have seen in the writing style of John, he will use a compare and contrast.

I love how R.C. Sproul put it in the quote I just read, “To worship God in truth is to worship him as he commands.”

Have you ever thought about what Jesus said and taught about worship?

Think about that for a moment.

The King of kings and the Lord of lords has a way that He wants to be worshiped.

I do not think that we get this all the time.

When we talk about Jesus, we talk about how it is about the heart.

We hear phrases like relationship over religion.

Though I would agree with most of what they are getting at when they people state these things, I do not think that this is completely true.

Our religion should be an outpouring of our heart of worship.

It has everything to do with our hearts posture and not just what we attend.

So before we go any further today, would you join me in a word of prayer?

1. Mary's Meaningful Act

John 12:1–3 (ESV)

1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Exposition And Exegesis

Can you imagine the scene that is going on here?

We have Martha who is serving.

We have Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days just reclining at the table.

All the while, in the Gospel of Mark, we are told that this dinner is actually at a man named Simon’s house.

The thing is, Simon was a leper that got healed by the working of Jesus.

So you have a family who has seen death.

A man who experienced death.

A man who experienced healing.

Can you imagine the amount of gratitude in that house?

Simon, who had never been able to serve people food or anything, can now serve.

Martha is serving because that is how she is, remember, she is the type A personality.

You have Lazarus who is just sitting back, taking this all in.

Than you have Mary.

We read in the text that Mary does something really interesting.

She takes a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and pours it at the feet of Jesus.

If we do the calculations to todays standards, this is around 11oz.

This ointment came from Pakistan to China (in that area).

The cost of this nard would have been over a years wages.

This ointment (perfume) was expensive.

Did you see what she did?

She spared no expense and dumped it on the feet of Jesus out of pure worship.

She did this because it is an outpouring of where her heart is.

She did this because her soul wanted this.

She did this because this was the posture of her heart!

Not only did she dump this nard on the feet of Christ, she took her hair, which was sign of dignity and wiped the nard up.

This was a humbling thing.

What she just did defied the status quo of her time.

What she did challenged the norms of her time.

What she did challenged what people thought to be the expression of worship deemed fit in regular liturgy.

What she did was worship without counting the cost.

Why did she not count the cost?

How do you put a price on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

How do you put a price on the Messiah of the world that raised your dead brother to life?

How do you put a price on the Savior of your soul?

How do you put a price on the freedom that you now live in because of the work of Jesus?

There is no price that can come close to the amount due to this kind of majesty.

There is no price a human can put on worshiping the Messiah.

There is nothing we can do to match the price of our King.

What Mary did transcended all worldly values.

Why?

She just wanted to worship Jesus.

She wanted heartfelt communion with Jesus.

She wanted to be in His presence and give Him everything that she had that was worth value.

Her money, her dignity, her pride, and her soul.

APPLICATION

This day was a massive gratitude day.

Everyone in that house was full of gratitude towards Jesus.

Notice that there were different expressions of that.

Lazarus- abiding in the presence of Christ.

Martha- serving in the presence of Christ.

Mary- pouring out everything she had in the presence of Christ.

All three responses are good.

All three responses are right.

We need all three in our walk with Jesus.

The question is though, what does that look like in your life?

What does this really look like in your walk with Jesus?

However, I want to lean into the core of what is going on.

Do you know Jesus?

Do you know what He has done and is your heart in the right posture before Him?

Do you show your love for Jesus?

Do you think Mary was over the top?

If you do, than you are probably on team Judas than team Jesus.

Do you really love Jesus?

I am not just talking about the passive love that we associate with people or things.

Like I know you love your latte from Starbucks or Tim Horton’s but that should come no where near the amount of love you have for Jesus.

Do you really know Him?

Your worship should reflect what you know about Jesus.

It should be the proof that He actually means something to you.

Where is your heart in worship?

This is a serious question.

If you think just dropping a money envelope in the plate on Sunday is the extent of your worship, than you are sadly misled.

If you think that it is just the order of service that is worship in church, you are misled.

If you think that just being here for the Lord’s Day is worship, you are misled.

Listen, all of those are good things.

Those are all things we are told to do.

Where is your heart, though?

You can do all of things and check off boxes but not be in worship.

How does your life reflect that Jesus saved your soul?

How can today be the day that our worship is not just something we show up to but the heartbeat of who we are?

How does the Holy Spirit call you to worship today?

Is it serving, singing, or teaching?

Is it witnessing, loving, or fellowshipping?

Whatever it is, it can not be a shallow action but a heart of genuine praise.

Maybe it is singing with all you have because you really believe what that song is saying.

Maybe it is serving when it is inconvenient because God has led you to that.

Whatever it is that you are led to do, make sure you are doing it with everything that you are.

The single most important thing to understand about worship is that the only worship that is acceptable to God is worship that proceeds from a heart that is trusting in God, and in God alone.

R. C. Sproul

2. Judas’ Jealous Judgment

John 12:4–6 (ESV)

4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,

5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Exposition And Exegesis

Here we have a picture that exemplifies selfish motives versus selfless love.

Notice how the passage starts out, “But Judas Iscariot…”

Judas sees what Mary is doing and gets bent out of shape.

Judas saw what Mary did and automatically had a rebuttal.

He sees the ointment and gets mad that it was used for worship instead of profit.

He knew that this would have been around three hundred denarii.

I love this passage because it highlights the brain and intention of Judas.

He only had to smell the nard and look at the bottle and he just knew how much it cost.

He saw Mary as worshiping enthusiastically or fanatically.

I love how John Stott said this about the situation.

“From the Synoptic narratives we learn that the disciples of our Lord generally murmured at what they called the waste of the ointment. But we further learn from this Gospel who it was that instigated this feeling. It was the traitor—the son of perdition. The sweet and penetrating odor of the nard actually stank in his nostrils. It awoke into active and hateful activity the avarice, the meanness, the duplicity, of his poor, degraded nature.” (John Stott, Homiletic Commentary on St. John)

We know from the text that Judas did not really care about taking the money that was used to buy the perfume to serve the poor, he was just mad when he could not dip into the money himself.

See, Judas was a betrayer, but he was also a thief.

He betrayed our Lord, but also stole from what should have been Jesus’.

Judas stole out of the purse of the Lord but also wanted to steal Jesus’ glory.

See, Mary, she wanted to give everything that she had.

The most expensive thing that she could have given would not have been enough, that is why she used her hair.

I believe that she would have rather died than to give up worshiping Christ.

So we see that there is a difference behind what true worship is and what hypocrisy looks like.

One has a heart surrendered to Christ, the other has a heart surrendered to the will of the flesh.

APPLICATION

What was your gut reaction to what just took place?

Did you agree with Judas?

Did you feel the tension of hypocrisy?

It is important how you answer that question.

How much is too much when it comes to worshipping Christ?

What are your motivations behind worshipping Jesus.

Are you doing it out of love or are you doing things in a materialistic way?

Are you coming to church to worship Jesus or coming to hang out with friends?

Are you singing the songs because that is what you know or are you looking at the words and agreeing through the melody being sung?

Does your worship depend on earthly standards?

If so, today is the day for change.

Today can be the day where you shift your focus from checking a box to laying your heart down at the foot of the cross.

Man sees your actions, but God your motives.

Thomas à Kempis (Ascetical Writer)

Religious acts done out of low motives are twice evil, evil in themselves and evil because they are done in the name of God.4

A. W. Tozer

Obedience to God’s Word is proof of our love for Him. There are three motives for obedience. We can obey because we have to, because we need to, or because we want to.

Warren W. Wiersbe

3. Jesus’ Justification

John 12:7–8 (ESV)

7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

This is a very profound moment.

Jesus is telling the disciples that what Mary was just doing was prepping His body for burial.

Let’s take a moment and dwell here.

Why would Jesus have His body prepped for burial?

The shadow of the cross was at hand.

In fact, it was six days away.

Our Lord and Savior would be hung by the Roman government by the prodding of the Jews.

He would endure an unfair and unfit trial.

He would experience things that no human ought to go through.

He would take the weight of sin on His shoulders and finish the last sacrifice ever deemed necessary.

Why?

Well, it is simple.

John 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

That is how much Jesus loves us.

We worship with all we have because that is the kind of love that Jesus gave to us.

Jesus’ death means that we can have life.

We can have life abundantly.

Now, Jesus does not say that the poor are unimportant.

We are told to serve the poor, widows, and the orphans.

We are told to take care of the most vulnerable.

However, Jesus is stating what time will bring.

He is telling the disciples that He will not be here on this earth forever.

While Mary can worship Jesus face to face, that is what should be done.

He is simply explaining and affirming that what Mary is doing is true worship.

It is just that simple.

APPLICATION

Worship is a privilege.

Have you ever thought about that before?

Worship is a privilege.

How can we worship to prepare for deeper intimacy with Christ?

When we worship, we are aligning our lives with the Gospel truth.

The Gospel changes everything.

I love how John MacArthur said this.

If worship does not change us it has not been worship.

John F. MacArthur

Everything that we do in our Christian life should be an overflow of worship.

Every serving action, every song that is sung, every piece of money that is donated should be done out of the recognition that Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

Sin has left a crimson stain and He washed it white as snow.

On top of all of that, heaven is just one big and never ending worship service.

If we are born again, we will spend eternity in worship.

Listen to this scene out of Revelation.

Revelation 19:6–10 (ESV)

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;

8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

What we just read are things to come.

This is what reality in glory will look like.

To worship God in spirit is to worship from the inside out.

Donald S. Whitney

Conclusion

Where is your heart today?

We are about to sing “Goodness of God.”

Now, I do not know about you, but I am excited to sing praise to Jesus.

Why?

He deserves it.

Why don’t we just agree right here and right now.

We are about to sing with a different heart today.

We are about to worship with a different kind of weight.

Sing like we know the fact that Jesus loves us.

Sing like we know that Jesus saved a wretch like you and me.

Sing like our sins have been cast as far as the east and west.

Worship with the newness of life.