Christ -the Object of our giving

Introduction:

Story about a gift that was so unbelievable in my life

Car from Myrna

House from Anna - Probably this one

She gave us a gift that was unbelievable -

Something so great that other people said why would she ever give them such a valuable gift?

Transition: this morning we are going to be in John 12 where Jesus receives a gift that is so valuable other people complain that it was too expensive to give as a gift to someone else.

Background

Before we get to John twelve lets Remember where we a coming from.

The Last two weeks we looked at Jesus’s miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, and at the end of John’s account in chapter 11 We read that because of what Jesus did “many who saw the sign believed in Jesus as the Messiah.”

and the text goes on to tell us that because so many people were turning to Jesus that “it caused the chief priests and Pharisees to convene a council to discuss what they should do about all these people now calling Jesus their Messiah.

Really they wanted to figure out how they can get rid of him. They were concerned about what the Romans might do if Jesus continued His work.

Basically, they were scared that they would lose their power over the people and with it their own status and wealth.

And as they are getting angrier and angrier about Jesus and plotting to kill him, Caiaphas, the yearly appointed high priest , steps into the conversation and tells them that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish.

In fact, John says that this was a prophecy -that Jesus was going to die not only for the nation of Israel, but for all mankind.

“So from that day on they made plans to put Jesus to death.” (John 11:53 ESV)

So Jesus After the raising of Lazarus knowing that the time of his death was coming closer and that the jewish leaders where opening calling for his death, He withdrew with his discipels to a place in the mountains about 12 miles away on the edge of the wilderness at Ephraim.

We see this in the text in verse 54“Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. “(John 11:54 ESV)

I believe that Jesus took these men away from the world so that he could speak truth into their lives. this must have been a time of great learning for the disciples

and this brings us to our passage today

Turn with me in your Bible’s to John 12:1-8

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 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. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 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. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.””

It is now 6 days before the passover

and Jesus knows that his hour death is almost here.

He will In two days enter Jerusalem as a king and hear the crowds shout Hosanna, Hosanna to the king, but then 5 days later on the passover he will hang on a cross as the final sacrificial passover lamb for all mankind.

Jesus on his way to Jerusalem comes back to Bethany to be with his friends that he loves Mary Martha, and Lazarus one more time before he is condemned to die..

Our story tells us that when Jesus arrived they served him a meal

and as Martha is serving the food, and a s Lazarus is at the table fellowshipping with Jesus and the disciples Mary comes into the room carrying a gift for Jesus.

Today I want us to look at the heart behind the giver.

I believe that we can learn three biblical truths from Marys gift to Jesus.

BIG IDEA: JESUS DESERVES OUR BEST-

Text: John 12:3 “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.”

- The first observation I see from Marys gift

Mary’s gift was an act of Pure Generosity

John 12:3 “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.”

Mary used a Roman Pound of oil to anoint the feet of Jesus. this would equate to about 12 oz of liquid - just about the size of a can of Pop.

I went into Fareway the other day to buy a case of Cherry Coke Zero and my jaw hit the floor when I saw the price! It was $7 bucks for 12 cans of pop.

and do you know what happens now when I pick up a can in my house that is still half full of this liquid gold that someone wasted and didnt finish?

Laugh- HOw many of you just thought that I pick it up and drink it so it doesn’t go to waste? NO CHANCE I DON’T EVEN WANT TO DRIONK AFTER MY WIFE-

I grumble as I dump it out in the sink thinking How could they waste this valuable stuff don’t they know what I had to pay for this 12 ounces of soda?

In verse 5 our story tells us that one of Jesus’s disciples had this same response to Mary’s gift to Jesus.

Look at what it says . “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?

Judas is angry about Mary using this perfume to put on the feet of Jesus when water would have cleaned them just as good.

Judas explains that this 12 ounces of oil is worth over 300 Denarii.

To put this into perspective. One Denarii was equal to a days wage for the average worker.

That means that this 12 ounce bottle of oil was worth an entire year’s salary. Today it would be worth about $54,000

Thats a little more than the can of diet coke that was left half full at my house.

Put heres the point the we need to get from Marys gift.

Mary Who just burried her brother didn’t give Jesus the leftovers from his funeral. Her gift was pure - it was the very best she had to offer.

She didn’t run to closet to see what she no longer needed or what she could live without -

She saved so that she could give the best to Jesus all along.

Notice also that Mary didn’t just give Jesus a Portion of her best -She gave him her all.

She poured it all on his head and his feet. She held nothing back when it came to her generosity towards Jesus.

She didn’t say Lord I love you with my best but I need to keep a little bit back just in case times get tough and I need to use for my own needs - NO SHE GAVE IT ALL

By Giving her Best to Jesus ,Mary is proclaiming to the world “JESUS IS WORTH IT!

There is nothing more deserving than my best thanJesus so why would I not want to give him my all.

Mary gives us a wonder example of what is looks like to give Generously to the Lord.

Author Matt Carter when Speaking about Mary said,

The example of Mary forces us today to consider what a right response to Jesus looks like. If we really see Jesus for who he is—the almighty, infinite God of the universe who condescended to take on human form so that he could die a brutal death in the place of his rebellious creatures—if we understand his beauty—that he is the all-satisfying, wondrous, joyful God who promises to give peace, blessing, and satisfaction in himself to those who come to him—if we get this, how can we possibly withhold anything from him?

Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 12:1–11). Holman Reference.

I believe we as the American church have a real problem when it comes to giving generously to the Lord.

We tend to think that our thousands we give compared to the tens and hundreds that other people give is more pleasing to the Lord.

We think that if our giving is a big number compared to other peoples giving that God is pleased

To give generously to the Lord doesn't’ have a dollar value attached to it.

Generous giving is the idea of giving in way that causes your faith to grow deeper in your dependency on Christ to provide for your life.

When is the last time you really gave generously to the Lord? To the point it could impact your financial life?

To give to the Lord generously also means that we prayerfully set a plan to give him our absolute best.

Remember that bottle of oil that Mary poured out on Jesus’s feet would have taken a year for her to earn.

Mary had a plan she saved so that she would have a gift to anoint Jesus at his death,

Mary set this gift aside for a purpose.

When I was in Real estate we had no idea what my income was going to be each year. It fluctuated by 10s of thousands of dollars every year based on the economy. But Amy and I wanted to be generous in our giving to the Lord through our local church. We understood that everything we have in this life is a gift from him, and we wanted to worship him through giving back what he had given us to steward.

And so each year we would pray together and set an amount that we We wanted to plan our giving to be first, before every other expense we thought we might have in life. We wanted to give God our best and our first fruits from what he had given us. .

And every week that amount we prayed about would come out of our bank account and into the offering plate at church, even if I didn’t close any deals that week.

Why - because we prayerfully decided in our hearts before hand that we wanted to faithfully and joyfully give.

I can honestly tell you this morning, Like Mary, When Amy and I had decided in our hearts to give generously to the Lord it wasn’t a burden when we poured out our offering to Him, but it was a joyful blessing knowing that we were giving back to the One who loved us enough to die in our place for our sins.

I can honestly say I Have never looked back and thought to myself I wish i would have kept a little more for myself, In fact I look back now and wonder if Only I had given a little more, How would God have used it for His kingdom?

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Paul is speaking to the church about giving to the Lord

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ”

Understand that Generous giving is not motived by an emotional response to preacher , or from guilt from a sermon, or even to receive blessings from God. That is not what Generous givnng is all about

Generous giving is giving that is prayed through, Planned, and for God’s Glory.

Mary didn’t give jesus the leftovers from her finances, she planned ahead to Give Jesus the best she had to offer. And she had the opportunity to sit back and rejoice in her savior.

The first lesson we should learn from Mary is if we want to give generously to Jesus we must purposely and prayerfully set aside our best to give to Him no matter the cost, because He is worth it!

Give Christ your best time- Because he is worth it

Give Christ your best talents- because he is worth

Give Christ your best treasure - Because He is worth it!

Transition: The 2nd thing we can learn from Mary’s example is that...

Mary’s gift was act of Humble Worship

John 12:3 “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.”

Mary loved Jesus - In Luke 10:38-42 We read the first recorded encounter of Mary with Jesus

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her.””

Where was Mary in this story?

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus humbly learning from him

Mary understood that the best thing we can do with Jesus is to be in his presence

and then in John 11 we see Mary’s 2nd recorded encounter with Jesus

John11:32 “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet.saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”

Again Mary is at the feet of Jesus, This time She is Humbly crying out for help from Him to help her in her sorrow.

And in our text today we see Mary’s third recorded encounter with Jesus and where is she at?

at the feet of Jesus once again.

She is Humbly worshipping Jesus by washing his feet with her hair.

Foot washing was a normal part of life in the first century. Walking in sandals on the dirty roads around Israel made peoples feet very stinky and very dirty, and so It was the duty of the servant or the slave of the home to wash the feet of the guest before a meal, this makes a lot of sense especially since people in Roman times would recline on chairs that acted more like shred couches at a low table where their feet would be exposed.

The job of washing the feet of the guest was always given to the lowest person on the totem pole in the house.

Mary is at Jesus’s feet as a servant but not only has she humbled herself before Jesus,

-she is washing his feet with the oil that would have cost her a year of income,

-and not only is she washing his feet as a humble servant she is wiping them off with her own hair.

Why would this even matter-

It wasn’t because they were out of towels or none where clean enough for Jesus.

It wasn’t because she wanted her hair to smell like the perfume,

In 1 Corinthians 11:15 “Paul says a women’s hair is her glory.

Mary puts a side her own glory and humble gives it to Jesus.,

this was an act of total humble submission to Jesus.

She wanted to be the most humble she could be to give Jesus the most generous gift she had to offer.

Mary wanted to bring Jesus the glory while making herself small .

Church family

*** The reason Mary understood what it meant to give generously is because she had spent so much time at learning and worshipping at the feet of Jesus and that is why she knew Jesus is worth it.

the second thing we can learn from Mary is that

In order for our gifts to be an act of worship, We must be living a life of Worship at the feet of Jesus

We cant sit at the physical feet ofJesus like Mary did, and learn from his words today < But we have something that is so much more precious. We have the Words of Jesus with us wherever we go.

When we are humbly sitting at the feet of Jesus Reading and listen and following his words for our lives. our giving to Him will reflect our life of worship..

Transition: the 3rd thing we can learn from Mary’s gift is that...

Mary’s gift was an act of Community Blessing.

John 12:3 “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.”

The fragrance of Mary’s act of worship filled the room and everyone around her experienced the blessing that it brought with it.

The simpe point is this - God uses our gifts to bless others around us.

: In fact at the end of our story in verse 8 Jesus says “Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her.””

Jesus is saying that Marys worship was the best thing she could do for Jesus and this act of worship will not be taken away from her.

Two other authors wrote ab out this event

Mathew Said this MAtthew 26:13 “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.””

MArk 14:9 “And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.””

What Jesus is saying is this - Mary’s act of generous humble giving will impact the world for the gospel.

God- in is soverign plan for the church- uses our gifts to impact the world.

Think about-

God wants to use your time for his glory-- When you give more of your time to the ministry of the gospel- more lives can be impacted by its truths.

We have so many gospel ministries that our church would love to do - but the reality is we can only do them if each of us is willing to give generously of our time.

God wants to use your talents to build up the body of Christ and to reach lost for his glory -

and when you generously give him your talents You are giving him your worship.

God wants to use your financial giving to support this local Churches’s mission to make and equip followers of Jesus Christ in clear lake and around the world.

the reality is simple- The more financial resources this church has the more gospel impact we can have on the world.

The point we can learn is this God used Mary’s generosity to bless the world and He can do the same from our gifts when we give generously from a heart of worship.

Bring it Home

When I think about Mary’s example of Biblical giving I’m reminded of another passage of scripture about someone who also gave to the Lord.

Listen tot he Words of Mark 12:41-44 “And Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.””

When we give

Our giving is an act of worship How much worship is Christ worth to you?

Our giving to the church should not be based on the pastors approval rating or based on how much you like the ministries of the church,

When we give to the church we are worshipping our savior. Our giving should be based on our love for him. We are saying God You are worth it!

By giving your time and your talents and your tithes and offering to the church you are trusting in Jesus as the head of the church to use your money for his own glory.

If we try to keep a hand in how God can use our gifts- We are not giving generously and we are not giving humble.

Can I make it very Practical as I close

Let’s not be like the rich people in Mark 12 and only give God out of the extras we don’t really need but instead let ‘s be a church that gives like Mary-

If we want to see God do an amazing work in and through our church we need to give like Mary

We need to give of ourselves in such a way that the world would see as foolish. As a waste of our time our talents and our treasures,

I challenge you church family to go home and Prayerfully consider what Generous humble giving God would accept as Worship from your life.

Let’s together worship our Savior with joyful giving

Because JESUS IS WORTH IT!