Unwasted Love | John 12:1–8 (Youth Rally)

Unwasted Love | John 12:1–8

OPENING REMARKS

Thankful to be back in Indiana

It’s been a couple of years, but I’m thankful to see some familiar faces

READ John 12:1-8

If we had sitting there watching Mary pour out this ointment onto Jesus’ feet, we could have thought two things:

1. “What waste!”

2. “What love!”

If someone was looking at how you live for Jesus, would they say “What waste” Or would they say “What love”?

Most teenagers waste their teenager years by loving the wrong the things.

Tonight’s message is simply called “Unwasted Love.”

When you love and live for Jesus, it’s never wasted, even though some people might say it is.

The greatest thing you can do is choose to love Jesus with all you heart, and soul, and mind. It’s the first and great commandment.

When you love Jesus, it’s Unwasted Love. It always counts.

I want to encourage you tonight, to focus your greatest love on Jesus. Unwasted Love.

PRAY

INTRODUCTION

How many of you drive? Missed a turn?

One time I was driving on a freeway in an area that I was unfamiliar with. And I missed my exit. That’s hard for me to admit as a man, because men always know exactly where they are. We have built-in inner GPS systems that not all genders have.

But for some reason on this day, my GPS didn’t kick in in time for me to make the exit. Unfortunately I was on a Toll Road, which is English for Highway Robbery. Meaning, they take your money to drive on their roads, but they never use your money to fix their roads. They just take your money and go on vacation or buy Cyber Trucks or whatever.

But on this Toll Road, missing an exit cost me dearly. Because the next exit was about 5 miles down the Freeway. So I’m driving mad now. My destination is behind me and I have no option but to keep driving the wrong way. And to add insult to injury, by the time I got to the next exit, they charged me to get off the Toll Road. Then they charged me to get back on the Toll Road. So it was about a 15 minute detour and it cost me an extra $6.

“What a waste!”

I was thinking, “I’m wasting time. I’m wasting money. I’m wasting daylight. I’m wasting away because I’m hungry. What a waste!”

Ever feel that way?

Maybe you waited forever in line for a ride at an amusement park, only to get right up to the ride and they say, “Sorry, the ride just broke down.” What a waste!

Or maybe you bought a drink at the gas station and on the way home you knocked it over and spilled it everywhere. What a waste!

Or maybe you save your money for something like a new game or new clothes and after you get it you don’t even like it. What a waste!

Or maybe you root for the wrong team and every year when they lose in the first of the playoffs like the Lakers you think, “Why would anybody root for Lebron James. What a waste!”

No one likes to waste time or waste money. Or waste energy on something that doesn’t matter. But teenagers are notorious for wasting time:

Phones — Social Media — Entertainment (Carrying live chickens into the Minecraft movie)

Other Things: Sports — Money — Career — Friends — Being Popular

We all waste time or energy at some point, but can you imagine getting to the end of your life and realizing you wasted it loving the wrong things?

You talk about regret. To only have one life and realize we wasted it? Tragic.

John 12 is about a woman who some say was wasteful. But we find out quickly that our idea of waste and Jesus’ idea about waste are two very different things.

BACKGROUND

Jesus Goes to Bethany On His Way To Jerusalem

It’s just six days before the Passover when He would be arrested and crucified. His disciples didn’t realize it, but Jesus was about to die.

He comes to Bethany and eats supper in the home of Simon the Leper with some friends that included Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.

Lazarus was the man Jesus raised from the dead in John 11. He had been dead for four days but Jesus brought him back.

His sister Martha is the busy bee, serving everyone supper, which is what she’s known for. Always busy.

The other sister, Mary, was known to simply love Jesus. In another place in the Gospels while Martha was busy running around, Mary just sat at Jesus’ feet.

Mary Does Something Unexpected

Vs. 3 - She has a 12 ounce jar of perfume that called spikenard that was extremely rare and expensive.

The jar it was kept in was made of alabaster, which is a type of stone. Like pottery. But the jar had to be broken to pour out the perfume. So it could only be used one time.

And we don’t know where Mary got it, but we do know that Judas says it could have been sold for 300 denarii, which would have been almost a year’s salary.

How many of you have jobs? Imagine saving up for a whole year to buy a car. You save every penny and buy the best car you can get with a year’s salary. A 2005 Minivan. It may not look like much to everyone else, but it represents a year of work to you. The next week a missionary comes through and says their van broke down and they need a new car. So you give them your van and walk away.

That’s essentially the choice Mary makes when she breaks the jar and pours it on Jesus’ feet.

And naturally some people were like, “What is she doing? What a waste!”

But understand where Mary was coming from:

Her life had been changed by Jesus.

Her brother had been brought back to life by Jesus Christ.

Her eternity was different because of what Jesus had done for her.

Her family would never be the same because of Jesus’ love and power.

And all she wanted to do was express her love to her Savior. And this was the best way she could think of.

I wonder how many of us love Jesus that much.

Oh we say we do. “Oh how I love Jesus!” “I love you Lord!” We sure love do love Jesus…with our words.

But have we ever loved Him like this? A year’s salary.

The answer is not found in what we say. It’s found in what we do.

You know you love Jesus with Unwasted Love:

I. If You Give No Matter What It Costs You

A. Mary wasn’t concerned with the cost of the perfume.

Think about it: She literally went to the shelf where she kept this jar, picked it up and said, “I’m going to see Jesus at supper. I really want Him to know how much I love Him. This is about all I have.”

“Years salary…but Jesus saved me from the empty religion I grew up in.”

“Year’s salary…but Jesus gave me eternal life.”

“Year’s salary…but Jesus brought my brother back to life.”

To Mary, when she compared the cost of that perfume to the value of what Jesus had done for her, there was no comparison.

What Jesus did for her was worth more than a years salary.

B. If you’ve been saved, nothing compares to what Jesus has done for you.

He died on the cross for your sins. He paid the ultimate price.

He was tortured and beaten and shamed in front of His friends and family.

He bore our sins in His body on that tree, and His own Father forsook Him because He carried our sin.

All so that He could offer us eternal life.

C. We can be saved because of what Jesus did.

If you have never been saved, you can choose Jesus tonight!

You are a sinner. Jesus died to pay for your sins. You must believe by faith and trust Him alone to save you. You can leave here changed.

Some people never do because they’re afraid of the cost:

First, it costs you nothing except belief.

Second, some don’t get saved because they’re embarrassed. I can promise you eternal life is worth more than being embarrassed.

Some will not get saved because they’re ashamed that everyone already thinks they’re saved. Hell isn’t worth that.

Some don’t trust Jesus because they think it will cost them friends or now they have to follow Jesus. What you gain in Christ is greater than anything you’ll lose.

Anyone who’s ever been saved would say, “Totally worth it!”

D. If you’re already saved, salvation is more valuable than anything you lose following Jesus.

Young people going to their own shelves and weighing the cost:

I know He saved me, but I really want to make a bunch of money.

I know He died for me, but I kind of want to experience life and try some things that everyone gets to do.

I know my soul cost Him His life, but I’m not sure I can serve Him full time.

No, wait, if you’re saved, there’s no cost too great for Jesus.

“But my plans! But my career! But my friends! But not the ministry!”

Right now you’re comparing what He did for you to what you want and saying, “I only have one jar. One shot. One life.”

That’s right. You only 70 or 80 years to express your love to Jesus for what He’s done.

You can’t put a price tag on your salvation. Which means you can’t put a limit on what you’re willing to give to Jesus.

You know you have Unwasted Love for Jesus When You Give No Matter What It Costs You:

II. When You Serve No Matter How It Humbles You

A. Vs. 3 - The typical thing to do was to anoint someone’s head, but Mary got down and anointed Jesus’ feet, then wiped them with her hair. Not a towel. Her hair.

Dirt was everywhere. Roads. The floor of the house. On His feet.

And as she poured out the ointment and it mixed with dirt, it turned to mud.

So her hairs is in the mud. Wiping feet.

Mary had no pride in this moment. Completely humble because of what Jesus meant to her.

She said, “Jesus is worth more than my pride.”

B. Young person, if you want to prove you have Unwasted Love for Jesus, you’re going to have be humble.

We need some teenagers who aren’t full of themselves. That will serve others. Volunteer to help with things. Submit to parents and Youth Pastors. Be humble.

Young people aren’t known for humility. There’s a lot of pride in teenagers. There’s a tendency to be pretty focused on self.

But a proud spirit is an abomination to God.

James 4:6 “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

Here’s a woman willing to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair, but most young people are far too concerned with self.

Most young people walk into a room and think “What do they think of me?” What we need is young people that walk into a room and think “What can I do to be a blessing to someone?”

Yet teenagers won’t sing in the youth choir. They won’t go to the activities. When they do they sit back in their chair as if they’re way to cool to be there.

We need some young people willing to serve no matter how humbling it is.

C. Serving God is humbling

You might be the only one taking a stand for right in your youth group

Only one not laughing at the jokes

Only one showing up to outreach

Only one volunteering to set up chairs or pull weeds

That’s okay. Because while everyone else is focused on self, you’re focusing on serving. And God sees it.

We say we love Jesus, but we know if:

You Give No Matter What It Costs You

You Serve No Matter How It Humbles You

III. If You Do Right No Matter What Others Say

A. Vs. 4 - Judas says, “What a waste! We could have used this for more important things!”

That doesn’t surprise us about Judas. But if you read this story in Matthew and Mark, it wasn’t just Judas.

Matthew 26:8 “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?”

Mark 14:4–5 “And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? And they murmured against her.”

B. It wasn’t just Judas. The other disciples called it a waste.

It’s crazy that the disciples said, “This perfume was wasted on Jesus.”

But understand this, there will be plenty that say about you, when you give no matter the cost and you serve no matter how it humbly, “What a waste!”

Friends — Hard time

Parents — Critical of choice to live for God

Work — Target on your back

School — Called names

Youth Group — Outsider

Saying “What a waste!”

“He goes to every service and outreach? What a waste!”

“She won’t even go to the party with us? What a waste!”

“They’re giving up a university scholarship to go to Bible College. What a waste!”

If you give no matter the cost and serve no matter how humble, people are going to declare that your life is wasted.

But you must remember this - Jesus has a completely different idea about waste than everybody else.

IV. Our Love Is Never Wasted On Jesus

Vs. 7-8 - Jesus says, “This is looking ahead to my burial.”

Funerals — Families often want to do something extra special when someone dies:

The nicest casket

The most beautiful flowers

The best burial location

When that happens, no one says, “I can’t believe they would spend that much. That’s just too far. That’s so extreme.”

That would be inappropriate to say. Because they want to express their love. It may seem extreme, unless it’s someone you love.

And that’s what Jesus is saying about Mary. He’s about to die. So He says, “When you really love someone, there’s no length you won’t go to show it.”

Mark 14:9 “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Jesus says, “This act of Mary will be talked about until the end of time.”

V. Here’s What We Can Learn About Unwasted Love

1. God rewards every act of sacrificial love.

Mary did this on her own. And she was rewarded greatly. We’re still talking about it.

Here’s the amazing thing about God - He always notices.

He notices when you do something unprompted. No one else tells you to do it.

He notices when you do something costly.

He notices when you do something with humility.

And He always rewards it.

Maybe you’ve made a decision to read through your Bible this year. That’s sacrifice. God sees it.

Maybe you’ve changed the way you dress in order to honor God with your appearance. Your Father has taken note.

The Lord sees and rewards every act of sacrificial love.

Maybe not down here. But someday.

2. It’s not possible to waste your love on Jesus.

The disciples said, “What a waste!” But Jesus said, “No it wasn’t, because it was for me.”

You can waste it on all kinds of other things, but you can’t waste it on Jesus.

Getting saved isn’t a waste

Walking with God isn’t a waste

Souls aren’t a waste

Being all in with your local church is not a waste

Serving God full time isn’t a waste

Going to Bible College is not a waste

The world may say, “What a waste!” But anything done for Jesus is Unwasted Love.

3. God isn’t asking anything of us that He wasn’t willing to do Himself.

You could look at what Jesus did and say, “What a waste.”

But He doesn’t see us as a waste. He sees us as worth it.

And even if loving Jesus costs you dearly or is extremely humbling or causes others to be critical, just remember that He went through all of that so we could be saved.

It’s the least we can for Him in return. And it’s never wasted.

If Jesus didn’t view His love for us as wasted love, then it’s not possible for us to waste our love on Jesus.

Mike Tyson Interview 2005

Mike Tyson - Once most feared boxer on earth

Had it all - Money, fame, women, video game

Life - Broken relationships, bankruptcy, ruined reputation, drugs, addictions

Quote “My whole life has been a waste — I’ve been a failure.”

And unfortunately, God probably agrees.

When you love other things, you live a wasted life.

Compared to Missionary James Ruckman

Great preacher, could pastor large church in states, surrendered to Ghana

Reaching countless souls, planting churches, buildings, orphanage

The world might say, “What a waste!” But God says, “What love!”

His life isn’t wasted because he’s given everything to Jesus.

If you want to live an Unwasted Life, you must let God decide what is waste and what is love.