"Live UP!" Sermon series - part 2
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“POUR It all!”
“POUR It all!”
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Intro:
There comes a time in our lives when we have to.......
“Live UP” and in faith believe that when we POUR, we are POURING without wasting......
And when I talk about POURING......I am specifically speaking about SERVING.
(pause)
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
And so.....
.....with the various favor of God we should be responsible in assisting each other with whatever level of gifting God has given to us.
(pause)
“Living UP” in our serving says....
I am going to use what I have been blessed with by God to impact the lives of those around me to the best of my ability!
(pause)
And in today’s text we see how this idea of Serving through “Living UP” is revealed to us in the characters of this biblical narrative in John’s Gospel.....
(pause)
Look at it now....
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
Freedom....
This word “Served” in the GK means .....
....to minister or render assistance
…to help or to care for
(pause)
Now....
.....when the bible mentions the “they” in this verse. “they gave him dinner”
.....we don’t get the sense that it was a personal relationship between Jesus and the preparers of the meal.
…it just seems to be mentioned as we move towards the main characters in the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
(slight pause)
And....
....while I don’t want to minimze their actions I do want to highlight the fact that,
Martha was found SERVING!
(pause)
And so the first question I have is....
What causes martha to want to Serve Jesus?
.....to minister or to render assistance
....to help or to care for
Jesus in this way?
(pause)
Was it.....
Because of.....
Who Jesus is...........Jesus has proven he is the Resurrection!
What Jesus has done.........A Gratitude for his raising her brother Lazarus!
Who she is............Having a heart to honor and glorify Jesus Christ
(pause)
And while we really don’t know the totality of her reasoning.......
......What I do believe through Mary’s actions is that “Serving” says a lot about who we are!
It speaks towards how we see Jesus
It shows our level of appreciation toward God’s actions in our lives
It breaks down our Character in Christ
(pause and optional expound)
And I just believe.....
.....there must be some part of our story that says to the people who are observing our lives....
“We were found..........helping somebody at least once or twice in our lives!”
(pause)
Freedom....
.....after I looked at Martha, then I took a peak at Lazarus.
(slight pause)
and the text says,
“But Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.”
(pause)
And so what I wanted to know is....
“Lazarus........
.......after all Jesus has done for you.....
…please explain to me how Martha is Serving, but you are found Sitting!
Martha is in the scripture helping, or offering assistance.....
and....
Lazarus is in scripture with his feet kicked up in the air........
(pause)
Freedom can I ask you a question......
Who has Jesus done more for in the bible, than Lazarus?
He healed the blind...
He healed the lame.....
He liberated adulterers...
He spoke up for the unspoken.....
But......
.....who else in scripture can say,
“My life was OVER.......
......until Jesus showed up!”
(pause)
Lazarus.......
......don’t you do this!
........don’t you just sit there like Jesus hasn’t given you another chance at LIFE!
Lazarus......
........you got to “LIVE UP” better than this!
(pause and expound)
And Freedom......
......I don’t know all your business
.......but I know enough to know that God has done too much for each of you to choose “SITTING over SERVING!”
(pause - preach baker)
Freedom....
I tried to make sense out of Lazarus’s sitting......
And so I said to myself,
“Maybe.....
......something was wrong with him!”
(slight pause)
But......
.......no that can’t be it
.......because I can not imagine a Resurrection without a Healing!
(slight pause)
.....you don’t come OUT of the grave
......just to be SICK!
No..no..no...
God does not Lift you....
........just to Leave you.
(pause and expound)
And then I thought.....
Well maybe it was just a cultural thing....
....…Where the men stayed at the table while the women served the food.
(pause)
But no......
…because even if that was the case,
“Bruh, you can’t open your mouth in this Gospel to say NOTHING....
I understand......
......that there is value in your presence
......I understand that when others see you they will be reminded of the power of God in your life.
And Lazarus that’s why.......
I need you to open your mouth and.........
Say SOMETHING.....!
(pause)
But.....don’t just SIT there with your ENTIRE mouth closed.....
......@ least show us you are grateful enough to have a heart of a servant!
........@ least make it look like you ready to HELP somebody!
(pause)
And sometimes.......
I wonder if God is looking down from heaven at us and saying,
“I know yall aint just going to SIT there!”
(pause)
NOT......
........after all that I have done for you.
I healed your life
I matured increase in your life
I delivered you from the stuff that you got yourself in and couldn’t get out of
I built a hedge of protection around you
(pause)
And I hear God saying,
I need you to “Live UP” enough so that I can tell you love me by the way you “SERVE”
(pause)
Watch this family...
Because after I spoke to Lazarus, I looked over at Mary!
Look at it....
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
The text says....
.....that after Martha has served Jesus
.....and while Lazarus is reclining with Jesus
Mary walks over to Jesus.....
......and takes her serving to another level.
Because the bible says that she......
Anoints Jesus’s feet.
.....and when you study the text you find that in order to anoint Him, she has to P.O.U.R. the oil!
(pause)
As I was studying this text.....
......and looking at Mary’s actions this Pouring turned into something much bigger for me!
(pause)
And I’m going to spend some more time looking into the details of her actions in the text.....
But can I tell you quickly what God showed me when I saw Mary Living Up through her POURING!
P. - I see her Living UP to her “Purpose” of serving in order to add value
O. - I see her Living Up to cultivate “Others” into their purpose of serving
U. - I see her Living UP to “understand” the moment of serving
R. - I see her Living UP to “Release” the oil to impact the room she is in
(pause)
The text says,
She Takes a pound of very costly oil of spikenard.
And so John’s Gospel is marking emphasis on,
The amount of oil she uses
The value of oil she uses
(pause)
And Freedom may I suggest to you that.....
…one of the largest shifts in “Living UP” in our serving is
....Visualizing the Amount and Value of our Serving appropriately.
(pause)
Because....
....whenever we devalue or miscalculate our serving
......we reduce our Serving status to a Working status
(slight pause)
.....and we view our actions with a Self serving attitude.
(pause)
In other words......
How does what I’m doing to help render assistance to someone else affect me?
And.....
......there’s something incredibly wrong when what you are doing for others
.......is no longer about what you are doing for others!
(pause)
But notice......
......that Mary is not thinking about putting perfume on her body when she asseses the AMOUNT......and the VALUE of the OIL.
(slight pause)
But instead......
......When she Considers the AMOUNT......and the VALUE of the OIL
(slight pause)
.........Jesus comes to her mind!
And she says to herself in my spiritual imagination.....
The reason I am even POURING this oil in the first place
............is because of its great value
........and its great amount!
(pause and expound)
And Freedom......
If you ever want to figure out if you are “Living Up” in serving,
.......when you consider the amount and the value of your serving
........does it make you want to STOP POURING
.....or does it make you want to START POURING!
Because.....
.....if you look at the Value of the Oil and say to yourself,
“that’s too much!”
.......there’s a miscalculation somewhere
But......
......if you look at the Value of the Oil and say to yourself,
“that’s the reason I’m POURING!”
Something big is getting ready to happen........
(pause and expound)
Watch Mary Freedom....
ii. She Anoints the feet of Jesus
Notice....
.....she does not POUR the oil on Jesus’s head
....but instead she POURS it on Jesus’s feet.
because.....
.......POURING the oil on Jesus’s feet is interpreted as “Consecrating Jesus for Royal Service.
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination I see her saying........
The Crown is for your head....
But......
The Oil is for your feet.......
(pause)
See....
Everybody thinks about the CROWN..........when we talk about serving!
But.......
Mary is showing us that it aint just about the CROWN....
.......but she anointed Jesus in the place where nobody else wanted to touch him!!
Because....
“NOBODY goes for the FEET......
......because FEET don’t look glamarous
......and FEET have a tendancy to smell nasty
But Mary says....
“I didn’t SHOW UP for the expectation of something glamourous!!!”
But......
“I came to “LIVE UP” in an EXtraordinary way of SERVICE!”
(pause and expound)
[Optional Biblical Barrels]
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
(pause)
Look at it Freedom.....
iii. She Wipes His feet with her hair
The text says instead of grabbing a towel out of the kitchen........
Mary reaches towards what represents her health and her beauty......
........and she dries the OIL with her own hair!
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination when I saw Mary drying the Oil with her hair....
I said to myself,
She has to be saying to herself
“I need Jesus to know that not only will I POUR with VALUE.....
But even in the DETAILS of SERVING....
“I’m willing to express EXtravagant Service”
So she.....
.......reaches for something that nobody else has the right or the ability to hand to her!
......and this is one of the greatest moves of SERVING.
When you can get to a level of offering what you have to God without holding back absolutely NOTHING!
(pause and expound)
Freedom I don’t know how you feel about it but...
Her POURING to me was Extraordinary.....
and....
Her WIPING the oil her hair was Extravagant....
(pause)
And here’s why I say this because according to the text.....
iv. Her actions FILL the house with the fragrance of the Oil
Freedom......
I need you to see how on last week Martha was protesting Lazarus’s resurrection because of a smell......
And now on this week....
Mary is SERVING in a way that is FIlling the ROOM with a SWEET smelling aroma!
(pause)
And watch this.....
Because in order for Mary to POUR the Oil.....
She first has to BREAK the neck of the jar!
(pause)
And....
Some of you may be reluctant to POUR your way into SERVING....
Because.....
you realize that once you BREAK the jar open you can’t stop the OIL from flowing....
(pause)
But for somebody watching me.....
........this MOVE of SERVING, might be your BEST one yet!
(pause)
Because......
Here it is....
This move of “Living UP” in our SERVING is bigger than the event of POURING!
(slight pause)
As powerful as this MOMENT is......
.........the MOMENT of Mary’s POURING the Oil cannot be contained in what just happened for the moment.
(slight pause)
But.......
......because of the “Pureness” of this Serving moment
.....because of the “Extravagance” of this Serving moment
.....because of the “Interntionality” of this Serving moment
(pause)
What happened in a MOMENT............
Filled an entire ROOM.........!
(pause and expound)
Freedom watch this.......
Mary is not POURING for the sake of PROMOTION.....
Because.......
.....trying to pour at a higher level is not “LIVING UP”
(pause)
“Living UP” is pouring so effectively on the level you are on
........that everything around you says,
“If they can Pour this well in a moment to shift an entire room...
......their service just elevated them to the NEXT LEVEL!”
(pause)
And I wish I had somebody in here who realizes.....
You cannot get promoted without being effective
And at the same time......
You cannot remain at the same level when your serving starts escaping MOMENTs and Transforming ROOMS!
(pause and expound)
And according to the text Freedom.....
Judas in verse 4 and 5 has an objection to Mary “Living UP”
Judas says.....
“Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denari, and the money given to the poor?”
(pause)
Freedom.......
......don’t be surprised when a Judas tries to diminish your POURING!
Because.....
Everybody is not going to be able to see the value in your POURING.
Everybody don’t have the right motives in not seeing the value in your POURING.
.......because according to the text Judas was only doing this so that he could take the money for himself that was being given to the poor.
And........
.......that’s why I learned a long time ago to stop listening to folk who didn’t give me what I’m POURING!
(pause)
If you didn’t give me the OIL in the first place....
If you didn’t hand me the Jar in the first place....
........what gives you the right to tell me how to POUR the Oil?
…I have RESERVED this Oil for SERVICE
(pause and expound)
And now after Judas has tried to correct Mary’s POURING........
Jesus says......
“Leave her alone!”
(pause and expound)
Jesus says.....
Judas you got it all wrong........
She has not WASTED anything!!
As a matter of fact.......
She has POURED well!
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination.....
I hear Jesus saying.....
Whenever you’re Serving to bring my name Glory........
“POUR......
.....It
........ALL!”
(pause)
Freedom.....
I came to challenge you to......
POUR it ALL!!
And my life is a testimony.......
.......that if you POUR it ALL
.........you will never have to worry about the OIL being WASTED!
(pause)
David say’s it best when he says...
I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
(pause)
And the more I keep POURING.........
.......the more God keeps proving God’s faithfulness!
(Optional - share personal examples)
Freedom......
.....We must SERVE WELL enough to hear Jesus say,
“They POURED it ALL!”
....EXPOUND.......
CLOSE/ CONCLUSION