Poured Out For Christ

Intro Though it has been many, many years, once upon a time, we had a few fish in our house. It was quite the adventure getting fish. Whenever we would go to the pet store when Charlotte was little, we would spend quite a bit of time just looking at the fish. We thought it would be fun to get a little fish tank and get her a few fish. So we get a 10-gallon tank, we get all the supplies needed, and we get a few of these little neon fish that had different colored stripes on them - they were Charlotte’s favorites, and also (possibly more importantly) fit the budget. They were tiny gray fish with bright blue, pink, orange, green and yellow stripes, each fish having one color. So we get them home, we let them adjust to our tap water, and we let them free to live their new lives in the same size tank they were in before but with like 100 less fish around them. Then next morning, we realize some fish are missing. Apparently these fish were small enough that they had managed to find their way into the tank filter and they died there. So we took them back to Petsmart, explained what happened, and they replaced them. Second time was the charm and everything was working out great. Now, as kids get older, they enjoy taking on the challenge of responsibility. So Charlotte realized one day her fish might be hungry, so she grabs the container of fish food and she dumps the whole thing in there. Surely they will never be hungry now! Of course, this only really accomplished 3 things - some angry parents, a fish tank getting cleaned, and new fish food being bought. It did not solve the crisis hunger that apparently the fish had. So now we’ve got everything fixed again, but now we hide the fish food. Well, we thought we hid the fish food. And it happened again. So we go through the process again. Now the fish food goes somewhere where she will never find it. And we had success.

Until one day.

I walk into her room and the fish water is cloudy. Not only is it cloudy, but there’s a bunch of stuff floating at the top. Wait, that’s the fish floating at the top. And on the floor next to the tank stand, a bottle of spray in conditioner for detangling hair, completely empty, poured out over the fish to detangle the hair that all fish definitely have. And we’ve never had fish since. And if you’ve ever been in the house and looked around and saw a spot and thought to yourself, “hey, a fish tank would look great there”, no. A warning to all fish out there, as recorded in Dante’s Inferno - abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

We can see the effect that pouring something out can have on others around us. In this case, pouring out some detangler spray affected these fish significantly, thought really in only a negative way. But there’s also positive ways that things can be poured out. When you take a pitcher of water and you poured it out into several glasses, then many can come and take a drink and quench their thirst. If you’re working on a team, whether it’s in sports or on a project at work or school, and you put every ounce of yourself into it to the point of your own exhaustion, the rest of the team benefits from what you put in. When we pour ourselves out for Christ, the world is changed through the good news of the gospel, and we are fulfilled in the purpose to which we are called - to love and cherish Christ and proclaim Him to the nations.

Big Idea: True fulfillment in Christ comes when we embrace the call to live poured out for Him, reflecting His love and sacrifice in our lives.

The Anointing

John 12:1–3 Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

A couple things that we will pull out real quick before we get into the meat of the text. First, we can note the time of when this is taking place. John notes that this is six days before Passover, meaning we have now transitioned to the final week of Jesus’ life as He made His way toward the cross. We will also notice, as we continue through the book, that there is a transition taking place. Up until now, what can we note of Jesus’ miracles and teachings? They’ve all been done in public. What do we see taking place here in chapter 12? Jesus is beginning to direct His attention toward His disciples. He is essentially going to begin to give them the rest of the training that they would need to carry the gospel forward after He was gone. Is verse two the scene is set. Jesus had just arrived in Bethany, just had a nice busy day raising Lazarus from the dead, and now it was dinner time at the house. I’m sure Lazarus was pretty hungry. Martha, as expected, was running around the house preparing the meal and making sure everyone had what they needed, while Lazarus and Mary, along with the disciples, sat at the table with Jesus. And then Mary does something quite unexpected.

Let’s read verse 3 again really quick and look at what she does:

John 12:3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

So there’s three actions she takes here - she takes this “very costly” perfume, she pours it over Jesus’ feet, and then she wipes His feet with her hair. Now, when the text says the house was filled with the fragrance, I would not be quick to suggest that it was an enjoyable smell. You ever just take a bottle of perfume and poor the whole thing out? Of course not. What smells good in small quantities does not always smell good, and I would be willing to bet that this was the kind of thing where the smell would be so strong that you might choke on it a bit. Now, there’s a question that stands out as we read the actions of Mary. Well, two questions really, but we will start with the first one.

What in the world is nard?

Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound terribly fancy, does it? And yet, it is this very fancy, very expensive perfume. Nard is an extract from the Nepalese plant. The perfume was expensive because it was imported from a great distance, as well as having to be extracted from plant material. The process of extraction usually involved large amounts of plant material yielding only a little aromatic oil. So the problem wasn’t the quality of the perfume, but in the fact they hadn’t become as good at naming perfumes as companies are today. Take your pick - White Diamonds by Liz Taylor, or some of that great high-end nard.

Now let’s reflect on this act by Mary for a minute. We will get to the cost of the perfume in a minute and how Judas in particular reacts, but let’s consider the act performed by her here. Not only does she pour out an absurd amount of expensive perfume, but then she takes her hair and wipes His feet. Both Paul and Peter refer to a woman’s long hair as being “her glory”. There is something significant and special about a woman’s hair. You know what isn’t special? Someone’s feet. Actually, the feet were pretty filthy and you wouldn’t go around just touching people’s feet. Jesus cleaning His disciples feet was something that people really wouldn’t do for one another. They didn’t have nice sneakers then like we do now, so the feet were absolutely disgusting, and in reality they would be the dirtiest part of someone’s body. Mary took her glory, set it aside, and brought it to the filthiest part of Jesus and washed Him clean, preparing Him for His coming burial.

This is an incredibly profound expression of love and sacrifice. Her action represents an unreserved devotion to Christ, prioritizing Him not only above material possession, but also above societal norms. The crazy thing is, as we dive into these next few verses, no one is in shock over her wiping His feet, only with what was seen as wasted money. She didn’t just give up a great deal of money to serve Jesus, but also a great deal of dignity to do it.

Consider this: What does it really mean to offer our best to Jesus? What would it look like to pour out our lives in service and devotion to Christ, no matter the cost? I think far too often we tend to give Jesus what is left of us. I know I get caught up in that some times. I get to the end of the day and I give Him what’s left. What would it look like to give Him everything? How might our lives change? How can we serve Christ in a new way, giving up our comforts for the sake of His glory? Think on that as we press on. Where is Jesus calling you to pour out?

The Reaction

John 12:4–11 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

It’s safe to say here that not everyone was impressed with what Mary did. John notes specifically Judas’ response to this act of sacrifice and service to Christ. It’s almost like He completely lost sight of who Jesus is and what He is worth - and He is worth everything. It should not be so shocking to the reader of the gospels that Judas would give up Jesus for money, because he clearly wasn’t willing to give up money for Jesus. Judas looked at the value of the perfume rather than at the value of Jesus.

Illustration Everybody Hates Chris - Terry Crews character, the dad, had the monetary value of everything memorized.

And he notes the value of the perfume - 300 denarii, or roughly one year’s wages. That’s pretty significant. Let’s translate that to New Jersey - the average individual income in the state of New Jersey is around $53,000 per year. Mary walks to her bedroom, picks up a bottle worth 50 grand, and she just pours it on Jesus’ feet. Now, sorry not sorry, but if I’ve got $50,000 worth of perfume sitting in my house, I’m not pouring it anywhere. It’s probably going to get sold ultimately, because why in the world would I have $50,000 worth of perfume? While Judas’ spoken concern was for the poor, which that amount of money could do a lot for, that’s not where his heart was. He was a smart guy, so he had probably already worked out the math on how long it would take him to ultimately steal that money from the ministry. Really makes you wonder what Judas saw and thought when he joined the group of disciples. So Jesus responds in defense of Mary’s actions. “Hey, quit it. Don’t you see what she is doing? Don’t you understand. She’s preparing me for my burial. You’re going to always have the poor, but soon enough I won’t be here.” This one moment wasn’t going to change whether or not there would be poor people in the world. Absolutely it would help, and nothing about this should teach us that we shouldn’t help the poor, and let’s not think that for a second. But they were running out of time with Jesus. Mary’s actions weren’t the wrong thing that Judas pretended they were. After this conversation, a number of Jews came not just to see Jesus, but also to see the once again alive Lazarus. But, not terribly surprising, the chief priests wanted to put him to death too, because he was leading people toward Jesus.

Now let’s consider, alongside our question earlier, the difference between Mary’s act of sacrifice and devotion and Judas’ response to what she did. How do we respond to Christ’s invitation? How many times might we come to a point in our lives where we stand at a similar crossroads and we have a choice between devotion to Jesus and devotion to anything but Jesus? When Christ invites us in to sacrifice for His sake, or to give something up for Him, do we criticize and hold back? “But Jesus, you don’t know how much good I can do with [insert your struggle here].” This isn’t a sermon on giving, but it’s pretty on the nose for the conversation. “Jesus, I can do so much with that money, I don’t want to give it up. Jesus, I can do so much with my time, I don’t want to spend an hour on Sunday sitting in a church. Jesus, I can do so much more that you don’t even understand, why would you ask me to give this up?” And Jesus’ simple response is this - “aren’t I worth it? Am I really not enough for you?”

Being a true disciple of Christ demands costly decisions. It demands leaving our idols behind and seeing Christ as supremely valuable over everything! Look at the life of Christ and look at what He gave up. He didn’t hold anything back, but poured all of Himself out. He went to the cross and we can’t go get through a morning without giving into our addiction to coffee. If there is something in our lives that we are unwilling to give up for Christ, then He isn’t really our Lord. So the question for us to consider is simple - if Christ came to us and asked us to give something up for His sake, is there something we might say no to? Is there something we make argue with Him a bit? Maybe try to negotiate? The disciples of Christ must be willing to give up everything, even when it hurts - and yes, it may hurt. Let’s hop down to verse 20 and close out the text.

The Life

John 12:20–26 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Some disciples come to Jesus to let Him know that some Greeks were hoping to see Him. We have no idea how that side of the story ends and if Jesus ever meets with them, but Jesus takes a brief moment here to teach his disciples. So let’s breakdown His response to them one part at a time.

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (23) There are several times where Jesus makes an “hour/time has come” statement and each time it is referring to the same thing - Jesus is going to go to the cross and He’s going to die, but He’s also going to rise again. There are people that want to see Him, but time is running out and He prepares now to turn to His disciples and make sure they are ready for Him to go, which goes into the next part of His statement.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (24) When we lived in Shamong, we were surrounded by oak trees. We could be sitting in the house, and we would just hear acorns raining down from the trees onto the ground, the roof of the house, and most annoyingly our cars. They would be everywhere. You can sleep well tonight knowing that the squirrels of Shamong are well fed, which means the foxes and coyotes also get to enjoy some chubby little squirrels. As annoying as all those acorns were, they were necessary. If a tree just stays there and does nothing, then it just remains as that one tree and remains alone. But if it’s seed dies and falls to the ground, then it can become a new tree that bears fruit. So when those acorns are raining from the sky, just think of it as the tree in a full panic over not wanting to be alone. Jesus again here is talking about His own death. If He just continues to live and do His ministry, which wouldn’t be bad, it wouldn’t go as far. But His death would result in rapid multiplication and much fruit, sending the gospel message to the end of the earth.

He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. (25) Here’s where we connect with the story of the perfume. Jesus is using some pretty strong language here. I don’t think there should be any expectation placed on any of us to hate our lives. In fact, if you know someone that truly hates their lives, it is possible that they may be in need of some help. But let’s consider the contrast - Mary didn’t hate the perfume, and she didn’t hate what it was worth. She didn’t hate her hair, and she didn’t consider herself so worthless that all she could do was touch Jesus’ feet. But when she considered the all-surpassing value of knowing and cherishing Christ, she saw all other things as nothing in comparison. So no, don’t hate your life, but consider all things in your life as nothing compared to seeing and savoring Jesus Christ. If there are things in your life that you love more than Christ, you’re missing out. If there are things in your life that you wouldn’t give up for Christ, then you’re missing out. But if you can look at everything in your life and say “Christ is more to me than this”, then you’ve got everything you need and will keep it to eternal life.

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (26) If we want to serve Jesus, we’ve got to follow Him. If we want to call ourselves disciples, we’ve got to obey His word. If we want to be with Jesus, we’ve got to be willing to give everything up for Him, no matter what it is. The only honor that we can get in this life that counts comes from God, and if we simply serve Jesus we will receive that honor from Him.

So one more thing for us to think about - How is Jesus calling you to serve Him? What needs to get out of the way for you to serve Him well? What do you need to set aside to serve Him with everything you’ve got? Jesus tells us here that everything we give up for His sake is returned to us as eternal life. Is there really something in your life worth more than living eternally in the perfect presence of God?

What does it look like to live our lives poured out for Christ? That’s a question that in many ways we all have to answer differently, because our lives our different. But at the same time, the end picture is the same - a life poured out for Christ takes all that this life has to offer and counts it as nothing compared to the joy of knowing Christ. So we’ve got some homework to do, each and every one of us. We’ve gotta take stock of our lives and see what we hold at a greater value than how we view Christ. Where are there things we can’t seem to give up? Where are we trying to negotiate? Where are we trying to justify things? “Just give me a little longer Jesus, I promise I’ll give it up for you soon.” Yet the hour has come. Is Jesus worth it? He gave His life for us, we can live our lives for Him.

Think about that - He gave His life for you and for me. There was nothing left for Him to give, and He doesn’t even ask for us to give that much. We can’t take the sins of the world to the cross, but He did. All He asks is for us to pour ourselves out for Him; to give up the things that get in the way and see Him as supremely satisfying above everything. What’s getting in our way?

I think the passage we read in Philippians this morning might give us a good place to start. Let me just go back through a few of these verses real quick and let’s consider how we might begin by pouring ourselves out in this way:

Philippians 2:1–4 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:14–18 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

See, if we’re going to follow Christ’s example, which we also read in this text earlier this morning, of giving up everything and becoming a servant, then we must realize quickly that our time on this earth is not about getting the most out of life, but giving the most out of ourselves so that others may have life.

Let’s pray.

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