Sermon Tone Analysis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message.

The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

When I was taking seminary classes at Golden Gate Seminary, I was fortunate enough to get to know one of their adjunct professors , Dane Miller, and to take several of his classes.

Dane was one of the most brilliant people I have ever known.

He was proficient in both Hebrew and Greek and had a Doctorate in the History and Culture of Ancient Israel from the University of Arizona.

But Dane was one of the most humble and unassuming people I’ve ever known and I am happy to say that he was a friend as well as a mentor.

The only time that I and the other people who know him ever called him “Dr.

Miller” was in jest.

To all of us, he was just Dane.

In spite of his credentials, Dane pastored Serenity Baptist Church in Three Points, Arizona for over 30 years.

If you don’t know where Three Points is located, you’re probably not alone.

And if you do, you’re probably wondering why such an intelligent and gifted servant of God would stay at a relatively small church in that community for so long.

During his tenure there, a lot of other people also wondered that.

He was often asked why he was “wasting his talents” in a small church in that community.

Those reactions remind me that even within the church, we don’t seem to have a problem with a moderate, measured devotion to Jesus.

But when someone is totally sold out to serving Jesus in a small troubled remote community, whether that is Three Points, Arizona or a remote jungle village somewhere, there will always be those who consider that to be a “wasted life”.

Tension

The prayer that we’re going to look at this morning as part of our Dangerous Prayers sermon series is undoubtedly the hardest of the three prayers to pray for most of us.

It’s certainly not easy to pray “Search me”, like we talked about last week.

There are a lot of us who find that prayer difficult because we know that once God reveals those blind spots and hidden sins in our lives, we’re going to be responsible for doing something about them.

And a lot of Christians just aren’t willing to go that far.

And next week, we’ll look at another dangerous prayer - Send me.

That is also a difficult prayer that many of us aren’t willing to pray.

But the prayer that we’re going to focus on today - Break me - is one that I think very few Christians are willing to pray.

That is because praying that prayer means I’m willing to be totally sold out to serving Jesus regardless of the cost.

And frankly, there aren’t many Christians who are willing to go that far.

But, just like we’ve seen with the other dangerous prayers, if you’re willing to pray this prayer, it will undoubtedly draw you closer to God and radically transform your walk with Jesus.

Truth

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14.

We’re going to be looking at two different accounts in this chapter that probably appear to be unrelated at first.

But I hope I’ll be able to explain why there is an important connection between the two.

Let’s begin in verse 3.

You can follow along as I read:

This same event is also recorded in Matthew and John’s gospel accounts.

Matthew’s account is very similar, but John gives us some more detail that we don’t have here.

He identifies the woman as Mary, Martha’s sister.

He also tells us this event takes place six days before the Passover on which Jesus would be crucified.

Unfortunately, some have tried to tie this to a similar event that is recorded in Luke chapter 7 and have therefore claimed that this woman is a prostitute.

But there are enough significant differences in the timing and the details of the event recorded in Luke 7 to make it clear that is not the same one recorded here.

That event occurred in Galilee at the home of a Pharisee named Simon.

This one takes place in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper.

Simon was a very common name in that culture, so the fact that both events happened in the home of someone with that same name does not mean they have to be the same event.

The Simon in this account in Mark is very likely a former leper who has been healed by Jesus or otherwise he wouldn’t have been holding a dinner party.

No one would go to the house of someone who was still suffering from leprosy for fear of contracting it themselves.

On His way to Jerusalem, where He would be crucified only a few days later, Jesus traveled through Bethany, in order to see His friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary.

That was the same town where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead just a short time before this.

Those attending the dinner would have included Simon, possibly Mrs. Simon and all the little Simons, the twelve apostles, and Mary, Martha and Lazarus -so maybe up to 25 people in all.

As they are reclining at the table, enjoying a leisurely meal, Mary gets up, takes an alabaster jar full of pure nard, breaks the flask and pours it on Jesus.

We have no idea how Mary had come to be in possession of this costly perfume, but we do have some idea of just how valuable it was.

At least one of the disciples remarked that it could have been sold for 300 denarii.

Since a denarius was roughly equal to one day’s wages, that means this nard was worth roughly an entire year’s wages.

To put that into perspective, for most of us that probably be the equivalent of a really nice car, or more likely even a couple of cars.

Nard was a rare aromatic oil that was produced from a plant grown in the Himalayan Mountains.

It was typically stored in a flask made of alabaster, a hard stone that resembles white granite.

The flask had a long neck which was sealed with wax to protect the contents.

Normally the seal was opened to just allow a drop or two to be used since the contents were so valuable.

Perhaps Mary had stored this up over time as a means to provide for her and her family since in those days there were no savings accounts or IRA’s or 401(k)’s.

But Mary doesn’t just break the seal and pour out a few drops of her valuable nard.

Instead she takes two important actions that Jesus is going to repeat as an object lesson just a short time later.

Let’s go back and take a look at the end of verse 3 again:

…and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

Can you help me identify the two things that Mary did with the flask?

That’s right.

The first thing she did was to break the flask.

She very likely broke the long narrow neck of the flask.

And then the second thing she did was to pour it out.

This, as we will discuss more in a moment, is a radical, costly act of worship.

Mary’s flask is broken and poured out

Although we’re going to need to look at one other passage before we will be able to develop this fully, we begin to see the essence of the dangerous prayer we’re talking about today:

When I pray “break me” I am committing to serve Jesus regardless of the cost

This is certainly not consistent with the version of Christianity that is so prevalent in our culture today.

This not compatible with “Come to Jesus and He will make your life comfortable and prosperous”.

But it is a prayer that has the potential to open up your life so that God can use you in ways you never imagined.

Before we develop this idea further let’s look at another account in this same chapter.

Skip down to verse 22 and follow along as I read:

Most of us are probably so familiar with this passage concerning what we call the Lord’s Supper or Communion that we may very well go right pass some important details here.

So let me enlist your help here.

What does Jesus do with the bread that represents His body?

That’s right - He “breaks” it.

Now as we talked about the last time we observed the Lord’s Supper, Jesus’ body wasn’t physically broken on the cross, or at least none of His bones were.

That fulfilled several Old Testament prophecies.

But there certainly is a sense in which Jesus was broken mentally and emotionally by the ordeal of crucifixion and also broken spiritually by taking on the sins of all mankind.

And then Jesus takes the cup of wine and says it represents His blood which is what?

That’s right - “poured out for many”.

Jesus is broken and poured out

So Jesus talks about being broken and poured out.

Where have we heard that this morning?

That’s right - Mary’s alabaster flask of expensive nard was broken and poured out.

So just as I promised to show you earlier, there is a connection between these two passages.

In both cases, the idea of being broken and poured out is a picture of being fully committed to serve God regardless of the cost.

In both cases, nothing is held back.

In Mary’s case, she doesn’t hold back even one drop of her expensive perfume.

She could have easily opened the seal of her flask and just anointed Jesus with a few drops of nard.

And that nard was so aromatic and pungent that would have probably been adequate.

To be honest, that’s how many of us serve Jesus, isn’t it?

We give Him a part of our lives, but then we hold back most of it for ourselves.

But Mary gives everything she has - every last drop.