Oh my goodness, I had goosebumps.
I had to hold back 'cause I was like, if I let it all out now,
I'm not going to be able to talk.
So let me ask you, have you ever witnessed someone worship,
worship Jesus in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?
Not because they were showy, because it, it stirred something
up in you. Maybe you watch somebody give to
the church and they, they were giving extravagantly and you're
like, I don't know, man. Or maybe you heard somebody say
a prayer. That was an absolute confidence
that God is going to provide and be there in their life.
And you're like, man, that seems a little bit naive.
Or maybe, or maybe you've seen somebody take a radical change
in their life to follow Jesus. And you're looking at it like
you'd kind of gone a little bit too far.
And you've convinced yourself, you convince yourself that your
response is the mature one. It's the responsible one, it's
the wise one. But what if it's not wisdom?
What if it's something else entirely?
I'll never forget when my wife came up to me and she was
excited. She was being presented with a
ministry opportunity and she had a chance to start a homeschool
Group, A Christian homeschool group in Korea and, and in
China. And this is a chance for her to
impact lives, a chance for her to step into something bigger.
And my first words to her were not, I'm so proud of you.
They were not, wow, What? What is God doing in our lives
that we could go on this journey?
No, my first response was, have you really thought about how
much time this is going to take? You know, our, our, our kids
schedule. Our schedules are pretty busy.
Are you ready for this, this kind of commitment, this kind of
responsibility? Immediately I shut down the joy
before it could even start to grow roots or take something
simpler. She loves to bake cakes.
She will bake a cake. She will create a beautiful,
elaborate cake for a birthday, for a celebration.
And every single time I look at that cake and I can't hold my
mouth and I say, honey, you know, Costco's right down the
street, $30 sheet cake. We could have this handled.
She's pouring out love, creativity, celebrating, and I'm
over here calculating, 'cause I don't see the glass half full, I
see it half empty. And if I'm being brutally honest
with you, it's empty because it's cracked, it's leaking.
I don't leave room for God, I don't leave room for the joy He
brings. I don't leave room for
extravagant worship. And I'm realizing I don't have a
practical problem, I have a cynicism problem.
And when I see somebody wasting money, wasting resources,
wasting time on Jesus, their carefully planned out lives, my
first reaction isn't, wow, look at them worship God, it's
criticism. I'm realizing I'm not the wise
one in the room. I'm the cynic that gets in the
way of the Lord. In John chapter 12, we're going
to witness a dinner party, and at the dinner party there's
going to be 3 different types of people's responses, how they
respond to Jesus, and they're going to be completely
different. One will be 1 worships
extravagantly. The next will be one group
watches skeptically and lastly, 1 criticizes harshly and Jesus
reveals that the response, the responses that they are showing,
it's really it's really about their hearts.
That's our big idea for today. Your worship reveals what you
truly treasure. Your worship, the things you
worship. It truly shows what you
treasure. And the question I'm going to
ask now and I want you to think about this and we're going to
get to this at the end. Are you more like Mary?
Are you more like the disciples or are you more like Judas?
So if you ever Bibles turn with me to John chapter 12, we're
going to start in verse one. If you don't have your Bible, so
it's OK, we're going to have on the screen.
But some quick context. So what's happening, what we've
been reading through for the last month or so is Jesus had
just raised his best friend Lazarus from the dead, not
freshly did not. Maybe he's kind of sleeping.
Not like we could probably do CPR and get this guy back.
This guy's gone. He's been dead for four days,
body decomposing. This wasn't just another
healing. This was a resurrection, an
undeniable unstoppable proof that Jesus is and has power over
death. This is 6 days before Jesus will
be betrayed, arrested, beaten, taken, nailed to the cross as a
perfect man willingly going to be a sacrifice for us.
John chapter 12, verse one. Six days before the Passover,
Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was the one Jesus had
raised from the dead. So they gave him a dinner for
him. There Martha was serving them
and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
Then Mary took a pound of pure a perfume pure and expensive.
Nard anointed Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
So the house was filled filled with the fragrance of the
perfume. Then one of his disciples, Judas
Iscariot said the one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot who
was about to portray him said why wasn't this perfume sold for
300 Denari verse 7 Jesus answered, leave her alone.
She has kept it for the day of my burial.
For you will always have the poor with you, but you do not
always have me. The table is set.
Lazarus is there once wrapped up and clothed grave clothes.
Now he's just sitting there enjoying the house.
It's filled with people, it's exciting, it's loud, enjoying
dinner like nothing ever happened.
Martha's in the kitchen doing what Martha does best.
She's serving, serving Jesus now.
Now she understands what she's serving.
For the disciples, they're there too, probably still whispering
about what happened and why there's a dead guy in the room.
In the culture, when you went to dinner with them, they would put
a few drops of cheap perfume on your head and guests would have
their feet washed. But Mary, she doesn't do that.
In fact, she does the complete opposite.
She takes the most expensive perfume a year, a year's worth
of wages, 70 to $100,000. In this bottle.
They see Mary take it out. All eyes are on her now.
They know that this could have been a family treasure, her
savings account, maybe even her life investment.
And she does the unthinkable. She pours every last drop out.
Then, in complete surrender, she undos her hair, let's it down
and starts to wipe Jesus with her hair.
The entire house goes silent. Everyone knows Mary just gave
everything she had. She surrendered.
She let it all out. Now watch these three responses.
Response #1 Mary's extravagant worship.
Mary's worship reveals a heart that treasures Jesus.
Why, Mary? Why?
Why would you pour out an entire year's salary in one moment?
Here's what Mary understood. Jesus is worth everything.
He's worth everything. Mary had just watched Jesus
raise her brother from the dead. Jesus calling out Lazarus, come
out, come out alive. And Mary's looking at this jar
of perfume and sees, sees this jar and say this is an
investment. This isn't a security.
This is something I can give to the one person, the one person
who actually made a difference in my life, brought my brother
back from the dead. She didn't hesitate.
She didn't calculate. She broke it open and poured out
everything. Because when you truly, when you
truly treasure Jesus, extravagant worship isn't
wasteful. It's the only reasonable
response. But notices Mary, she's not the
only one in that room. The disciples, the disciples
cynical caution because of the disciples faith reveals that
their hearts are for safety and they're cynical.
Look back at verse 4. It says one of his disciples,
Judas, spoke up with criticism. But if you look at the other
accounts, if you look at Matthew, if you look at Mark, it
says this. When the disciples saw this,
they were indignant. Why this waste?
It wasn't just Judas. It was the disciples in the
room, the inner circle, the ones who've been following Jesus for
years, the ones who had seen him do miracles.
They watched Mary pour out everything.
They wondered why. Why this waste?
The disciples were not like Judas.
They weren't evil. But they were skeptical.
They were cynical, they were calculating.
They agreed this could have been sold for something more given to
the poor. And on the surface that sounds
noble. But what really is revealed is
they didn't believe Jesus was worth that much.
They'd follow Jesus, They'd serve Jesus.
They even left their jobs to be with Jesus.
But pour out everything. Come on now, let's not get
carried away. And if I'm being real, if I'm
being honest with you, I'm just like those disciples.
When somebody gets an opportunity, a ministry
opportunity, I don't say that's pointless.
No, I say, have we really thought this through?
I am not hostile to worship. I love worship, but I'm
cautious. I'm skeptical.
I'm practical. When I see somebody worship me
in a way that I don't worship, my views start to change on
them. And Jesus calls that cynicism,
cynicism, Show, show. Cynicism shows up when you've
seen Jesus do incredible things. But you hold back.
You hold back your worship and your trust.
You leave no space for him to work wonders in your life.
The disciples, they've seen Jesus turn water into wine, feed
the 5000, heal the blind, walk on water, raise the dead.
And they still wonder. They still question, Mary, are
you worshipping Jesus too much? Have you gone overboard?
Because here's the thing about cynicism.
It always assumes the worst. When I see the glass half empty,
I'm not being realistic. I'm refusing to believe God will
fill it up. When I kill my wife's joy.
I'm not being wise. I'm refusing to God that God
actually has a calling in her life in that area.
When I'm calculating worship, I'm not being responsible.
I'm refusing to believe Jesus is worth it.
Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it's really just unbelief
with a spreadsheet. And here's what terrifies me.
The disciples are in that room. They're in there with Jesus.
They're watching. They're watching this beautiful
act, they can smell, they're experiencing it, and yet they
still miss it because they're cynical enough to critique it.
And some of you, like me or like the disciples not far from
Jesus, you're in the room, you're in church, you're
serving, You know the answers. But when someone else worships
extravagantly, they give sacrificially, they trust
recklessly, they pray expectantly.
Your first thought isn't I want to be like that person.
No, it's I'm not sure if that's wise.
I'm not sure if that's responsible.
I think that might, might be too much because I'm the mature one.
But Jesus is about to show us that cynicism isn't maturity.
It's a prison, a prison that keeps you from experiencing the
fullness of God, what God wants to do in your life.
Response #3 Judas Judas calculated criticism.
Judas criticism reveals a heart that treasures something other
than Jesus. It's treasuring money.
Mary is on her knees worshiping. Everyone is in there witnessing
this costly worship and the one person that can't keep his mouth
shut is Judas. Verse four.
He says this. Then one of the his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, was about to betray him and he said why
wasn't this perfume sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor
six. He didn't say this because he
cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.
He was in charge of the money bag and when still part of it,
what was put into it? The disciples, they questioned
this worship, but Judas condemned this worship.
He didn't think this was just wasteful, wasteful.
He was angry about it. John opens up the curtain of his
heart because he didn't care about the poor.
He was a thief. Judas had been around Jesus for
three years, seen every miracle, heard every sermon, sat with
dinner after dinner, getting the teachings strictly from Jesus
himself. He had Jesus, he had all of him.
He had it all and he missed it all because his heart, his heart
treasured more morning. His heart treasured money more
than the Messiah. Judas had everything.
He'd seen the the sick being healed, the storms being called,
raised from the dead, heard every sermon.
He'd be in the front row of the miracles of the Son of God.
But when he looked at Jesus, he saw a means to an end.
He saw a way to fund his agenda, a resource to manage your
worship. Your worship reveals what you
truly treasure. He never saw Jesus as a
treasure. He saw Jesus as a tool.
Verse 7 Jesus answered, leave her alone, she has kept it for
the day of my burial. For you always have the poor
with you, but you do not always have me.
Jesus is not saying don't care for the poor, Actually he tells
us He commands us to take care of the poor.
But the hard truth is, what you criticize in others often
reveals what you treasure in secrets.
What you criticize in others often reveals what you treasure
in secret. It's not a secret anymore.
Some of you were thinking, this doesn't make sense.
You're asking me to worship. You're asking me to do something
that sounds irresponsible. And if you think about it
practically, Judas wasn't wrong. That was a lot of money.
But here's what he missed. This isn't about perfume.
This is about the person. Three people groups in that
room. 3 responses to Judas, to Jesus.
Excuse me. Mary is our model.
She's our model. This is the hearts we're aiming
for. The disciples are the mirror.
And if we're honest, this is where most of us are.
We love Jesus, but we calculate. We follow Jesus, but we hold
back. Judas is the warning.
This is where cynicism leads. If we never surrender close to
Jesus but miss him entirely. I asked you to think about that.
Which one are you? Because I've realized I've spent
most of my Christian life as a disciple in that room.
Not hostile to Jesus, but not worshipping him in full
surrender. Not betraying him, but not
pouring out everything I have. I'm the guy who serves Jesus,
but practicality is my first key.
I'm the guy who worship worships Jesus, but only to the point to
the That makes sense to me. If you're worshipping in a way
that I don't know, I don't experience, I don't understand,
it might not be the right way. The truth is, we all spend
extravagantly on what we love, $200 concert tickets?
Worth it. Driving 6 hours to go meet
somebody that you think you might like?
That's love staying up all night to finish your kids science
board because you love them. That's the only reason I'm not
calling Mary's worship over the top.
Jesus just brought back her brother from the dead, so
pouring out everything she had perfectly natural the most
reasonable response to a resurrection is extravagant
worship. What I'm saying is, my
calculations often don't account for who Jesus is and what Jesus
has actually done in my life. I'm over here doing math, trying
to figure it out, but I'm not including the most important
variable, Jesus himself. That's not wisdom, that's
cynicism. Religion calculates, but
relationships, Relationships pours out.
Everything that you have. The disciples they're doing in
religion. Mary, Mary is in a relationship.
And Judas, I need you to hear this.
You can be around Jesus and still miss him.
You can attend church every week, you can serve on teams,
you can know all the answers. You can do all the right things,
but you can still treasure something greater than Jesus.
And maybe Jesus isn't your treasure.
You go to church. You go to church on Sunday
because it's expected of you, You, your family.
This is what your family does. This is a family legacy.
This is a religious check box. I have to do this on Sunday.
Or maybe you're hoping that Jesus will improve your life,
give you peace, fix your problems, bless your plans.
But what if? But what if he's not?
He's not asking just to be your helper.
What if he's calling? He's calling you to surrender
your life to Him, to make him your greatest treasure.
I asked this, 'cause maybe you're in the room right now,
but and maybe you missed him. Three years Judas was with Jesus
and he missed it. I bet you don't let that be your
story. Understand what Mary understood.
Her brother was dead and Jesus made him alive.
That's why she didn't hesitate. That's why she poured out
everything. That's why the cost was not too
high. When you've seen someone you
love be brought back from physical or spiritual death, you
don't stop and ask, is this too much worship?
You ask, what can I possibly do to worship the one thing that
made such a difference in my life?
And here's what Mary understood. And some of us are missing.
This just isn't Lazarus's story. This is our story too.
Listen to how the Paul, the apostle Paul describes every
single one of us before Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2
says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which
you previously walked, according to the ways of this world,
according to the ruler of the power of the air, the Spirit now
working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived
among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the
inclinations of our flesh and our thoughts, and we were by
nature children under wrath, as the others were also dead in
sin, chained to the world, living just like everyone else.
That was me, That is some of you.
Verse 4, The 2 greatest words. But God.
But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love that
He has for us, for you, for me, made us alive with Christ, even
though we were dead in trespasses.
You, me, we are saved by grace. You can't save yourselves.
Jesus lived a perfect life, the life you can't live.
He died the death that you deserved, and he rose to offer
forgiveness and eternal life. That's why Mary worshipped
extravagantly. She understood I was dead and he
made me alive. If that's true, if Jesus has
saved you from death, then what's too much to give him?
The question I have to ask, I have to ask.
It always is. Has Jesus made you alive?
Or are you still dead in this room hearing about Jesus,
watching others worship, but you've never actually
surrendered to him? Don't be like Judas.
Don't miss him when you're this close.
Romans 10/9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and you believe in your heart that God racing from the
dead, you will be saved. It simply says, if you admit
that Jesus, I am a Sinner, I cannot save myself, I believe
you. I believe that Jesus died and
rose again and I surrender Jesus be my Lord.
If that's your heart right now, I suggest I urge you to
surrender your life to Jesus. I'm going to give you a chance.
Maybe that's something you want to do right now.
If we all could bow our heads, if you're willing to ask for
forgiveness and for salvation, pray this to God.
Jesus, I know, I know. I'm a Sinner.
I cannot save myself. I want you to save me.
I want you to adopt me into your family.
I surrender everything to you. I receive your promise of
forgiveness, your promise of adoption, your promise of
eternal life. Jesus be my Lord, with no one
looking around. If you prayed that for the very
first time would you be brave and raise your hand for me to
see I see your hand. Anybody else?
You can put your hands down in Jesus name, Amen.
If you raise your hand, and I have seen raise hands in this
room, welcome to the family of God.
There are tables in the back of our sanctuary that have signs
that say I raised my hand at those tables.
There's people that they want to celebrate with you.
They want to give you a Bible. They want to talk about what it
looks like in their lives for them to surrender and what it
looks like for you to give it all to Jesus.
For those who've already known Jesus, if Jesus is truly your
greatest treasure, then what does your worship look like?
It's easy to sing on Sunday, but it's hard to live out on Monday.
This week I'm challenging you. I'm going to ask you.
I'm asking myself the hard question.
What's the one thing? What's the one thing in your
life that you won't give to Jesus?
Identify your hold back. Your hold back is a thing that
that you hesitate to surrender because it feels too costly,
feels too risky, feels too important, too important.
Tim Keller calls us the idols of our hearts, the things, the
treasures that we're unwilling to give to God, that we can't
give up. It could be your time, could be
your money, could be your passions, could be your
reputation. This week, I urge you to talk to
God. Have Him reveal that in your
life. Write it down.
The thing I'm holding back from Jesus is this #2 take one step
of extravagant worship. Don't just pray, Do something.
This week. If it's time, sign up to serve.
We have a lot of things happening right now.
If it's money, set up your tithe.
If it's your reputation, share Jesus with somebody this week.
Break open your bottle and pour all you have out be.
Here's what I'm learning. The only thing more costly than
extravagant worship is withholding worship and missing
out. What God wants to do in my life
#3 the last thing is pray a dangerous prayer.
Pray, Jesus. I have been treating this thing
as more valuable than you. I've been cynical instead of
expectant. I've been calculating instead of
trusting. Jesus, I repent.
I want to change my wise, my ways.
I want to look to you. I don't want to run from my
past. Show me what it looks like to be
obedient and give me the courage to obey.
Here is the key, you and I, we can't do this on our own.
This isn't about our willpower. This is about the Holy Spirit
transforming hearts, turning a disciple's heart that calculates
into a merry heart that pours out everything.
Ask him. Ask him to replace your cynicism
with expectancy, your skepticism with trust, your caution with
courage. I invite the prayer team to come
out right now during our closing song.
I encourage you to come and pray with them.
Pray about anything. Maybe you've recognized that God
is calling you to give him something.
Come pray about that. If you all could stand right
now, we're going to sing our last song together.
As you stand, as the call, as the Lord calls you, as the
Lord's asking you to move. Let him meet you.
Let him transform your hearts.