Ron Dunn Podcast - Breaking Your Alabaster Box

Episode Date: January 8, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Thank you, Danny. And thank you, choir, for the music tonight and the music the other nights this week. Appreciate your work so much.

Choir members always have to come early to practice, and they have to put forth extra effort to be here and do what they do. And I really appreciate it. And the others this week who have sung have been such a blessing to me. I was sitting here a moment ago. Kay and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary this December. I know we were just mere children when we were married. And I was sitting here a moment ago thinking how good God has been

to us and has given us the desire of our hearts in so many ways. And one of the great desires of our heart has been, and I remember just as a teenager being in meetings like this in our own church and saying, Lord, all I want to do, what I'd love to do with my life is just go around preaching the Word of God. And God has been so good to us to allow us to do those things. And I just want to thank Him tonight and praise Him tonight for His goodness in watching over us and blessing us as He has and allowing us to meet folks like you. And I don't just say that. You can talk to Kay afterwards.

There are a lot of places we go. I don't say anything other than the sermon. But I want you to know what a ministry you have had to us this week and how you have blessed us. It is one of the occupational hazards of an itinerant preacher that you are in a lot of churches that are stale and dead and cold and dry. And preaching and ministering in those

really drains you, it really does, in a very significant way. And occasionally, though, you get into a church where the Spirit of God is working in an unfettered way, where there is such a tremendous fellowship, and you're born along by that. And that's the way it has been this week for Kay and I. And we just want you to know that whatever we have done to minister to you, you have certainly ministered to us and have been a blessing to us and have refreshed us. I was telling the pastor yesterday that this is my busiest year. We're doing 47 different meetings this year. It's been the busiest year we've ever had. And we need it this week.

And thank you very much. And if you ever get to taking your church for granted, well, I would like to suggest some other churches you might visit. I know sometimes you get so close to something, you get so used to something, that you fail to appreciate it. But I want to tell you something, folks. I'm out there. I'm out there every week from one end of the country to the other.

And I have news for you. You are an exception. And you are unique. And I hesitate to say that because I don't want to lift you up with pride. So God can't bless you anymore. But I do want you to appreciate what God has given to you. Because I tell you, he can take it away as quickly as he's given it. And I know because I've been there.

And there is not anything any more pitiful than a church that has known the glory of God and to lose it. And I want you to know we'll be praying for you, and I appreciate the staff. God has blessed you with such a great staff. We've enjoyed being with them, and that is one of the great secrets and keys to any church, is a good, united staff. And what I like about them is they like each other.

They don't just work together, but they play together. They like each other. And I want to commend you for having the spiritual wisdom to invite people like that to come in and be your staff. And of course, Michael and Terry mean so much to us. And I'm almost embarrassed to read the column he wrote in the paper about me, but I do want to send it to my mother-in-law.

Amen. I want you to pray for Michael and Terry. People are always asking, Kay and I, I said, are there any young preachers out there that God is raising up to do great things? And the first name we mention usually is Michael Catt and Sherwood Baptist Church. And I want you to know that you have the opportunity,

both of you do, both the pastor and the people, he has the opportunity to help you to become a great, great church. And you have the opportunity to help him to become a great man of God. It's not the preacher making the church. It's the church making the preacher

and he will be and become what you make him through your prayers and support and encouragement and a few chastenings along the way if he needs it but I want you to know we love them we love you

and thank you very much for letting us be here with you for these days. Now, would you open your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John. And speaking of John, it's been great to see Debbie and Jonathan again. They are like family to us. They really are. And I just

thank God for what they mean to Kay and me and a lot of other people. Mark chapter 14 and John chapter 12. I'm going to read two accounts of the same incident. And this will happen occasionally in the Gospels. You'll find that more than one Gospel writer will record the same incident. For instance, the one miracle that Jesus performed that is reported in all four Gospels is the feeding of the 5,000. But each account has about it a little different viewpoint. One will say something about it that another will not say. And so in order to get a full understanding of what took place, you need to read all the accounts and compare them.

It's the same as if four or five of us tonight were to write an account of this meeting. You would say something about it that somebody else might not say. Something would mean something to you that might not mean as much to somebody else. And in order to get a full picture of what took place, we would need to read all the accounts and compare them to get the full picture. And so that's what we're doing tonight, reading two accounts, two viewpoints of the same incident. First of all, in the Gospel of Mark chapter 14, beginning with verse 3 and reading through verse 9. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he set at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spiked and very precious,

and she broke the box and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than 300 pence and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For you have the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good. But me you have not always. She hath done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. And then in the first eight verses of John 12, verses 1 through 8, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,

which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone.

Against the day of my burying has she kept this. For the poor always you have with you, but me you have not always. And let me just read again two verses out of Mark 14, verses 6 and 8. And Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. She hath done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burying. When I was in my last year in seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, I was called to be the pastor of the Valley View Baptist Church in Dallas. I'd been a pastor before while I was in college. I'd pastor little churches, little weekend deals. I would go down

on Saturday and spend some time visiting, and I'd preach there on Sunday, and then Sunday night, I'd drive back to school. And so I had pastored before, but this was a full-time pastor. I mean, I was so thrilled because I had been working at an extra job going to school, and Kay had been working, and I would preach where I could, when I could. But here was a church that wanted us to come as pastor, and they were going to pay me a full-time salary so that I could devote my whole time and energy just to doing the work of God, and I could stop making mops down where I was working full-time salary so that I could devote my whole time and energy just to doing the work of God and I could stop making mops down where I was working part-time. So we moved over to Dallas

and bought a little house. And I never, I tell you what, I was so proud. Man, here I am, pastor of a full-time church. That made me a real reverend. You know, I felt like full-fledged reverend now. This isn't part-time stuff. This is full-time. Of course, it was a small church, you understand. It was a split off from a split off from a split off. And it was a small, struggling church. But to me, it was the greatest church in the world.

I thought I had arrived. I was having lunch one day with an older pastor in the city of Dallas, a pastor whose church was 20 times larger than mine, and I was telling him how great my little church was, you know, bragging on him just like a grandparent might brag on a grandchild. And I was telling him all the great things that our church was doing. And after a while, when he was able to get a word in, he said, well, that's fine, that's fine, that's fine, son, that's fine.

And one of these days, God will give you a good church to pastor. And when he said that, it was as if somebody had kind of punched me in the stomach, you know, and like my stomach took a dip. One of these days, God will give you a good church to pastor. I thought I was pastoring a good church. Matter of fact, I thought it was a great church. I know what he meant. He was trying to be encouraging what he meant was

one of these days God will give you a big church to pastor that's what he was saying but he didn't say a big church he said God will give you a good church to pastor and I must confess to you

that that affected me and affected the way I approached my church. I know that I was not as quick to brag on it around people as I had been when I realized here is this man, pastor of a church 20 times bigger than my church, and I've been going on and on about how wonderful and great my church is, and my soul, his is 20 times bigger than that. I appreciated his trying to encourage me, but it was one of the first encounters I had personally.

One of the first times I'd ever personally come to battle with a war that I was going to fight for a lot of years to come and that every minister fights for many years in his life the battle to be big and to grow and to do something that is great in the eyes of the world. It was my first time coming to understand that even though we are in a spiritual work, we still judge it by material standards. Even though we are ambassadors for heaven, we still operate according to the laws of Madison Avenue. And that is the way it is so much of the time in the ministry, in the churches.

It is the big churches that are usually called the great churches. And what happens is this filters over into our own thinking about ourselves and our own talent and our own ability and our own contribution in the life of the church. They say that it was the star system that killed Hollywood and it's the star system that can kill the church also. You know, there are stars. And, you know, there are people who do have an abundance of talent and an abundance of gift. And they're the ones who are always speaking.

They're the ones who are always singing. They're the ones who are always on stage. And they're the ones that are always speaking. They're the ones who are always singing. They're the ones who are always on stage. And they're the ones that the spotlight is always on. And so the rest of us, we kind of draw back and say, well, my little contribution is so puny. What I can do is so little. And what happens is that we begin to measure ourselves and evaluate our abilities and our talents

and our service to the Lord according to the standards of the world. And forget that Jesus says, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. And I don't know of anything that frightens me any more tonight than this, that I may spend my life devoting myself

to doing something that in the sight of God is an abomination. And I'm convinced that when you and I stand in the presence of our Lord and we receive of the things done in our body, I'm afraid a lot of those folks that we believe are going to be up front, they're the ones that's going to be back at the back.

And a lot of little people that nobody ever heard from much, they're the ones that are going to be given the rewards because you don't measure success in the spiritual realm by how big something is or how many people know about it. Jesus said, if you're faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many things. Now listen, it's easy to be ruler over many things. The tough thing is being faithful in the little things. But that's where the key is, Jesus says. If a person is not faithful in the small things, then he is not worthy to be ruler over the great things.

The way God looks at something and the way you and I look at something, folks, two different things, two different things. The scales that you and I use to weigh our service, not the same kind of scales that God uses. And so what I want from my life, I want Jesus to be able to say about me what he said about Mary. She hath wrought a good work on me. What I'm interested in and what I want to talk with you about tonight is how do you know when you've done enough for Jesus? How do you know? You look at somebody else, no matter what you do, somebody else always doing more. I remember at MacArthur Boulevard one year,

we were killing ourselves to baptize a hundred. In Texas, if you baptized a hundred in a year in your church, you got your name in the Baptist standard, see? That was the magic number. And so I had never done that. I'd never gotten my name in our church in the Baptist standard. And so we picked 1969. That's going to be the year. And we did everything we needed to do.

I mean, by hook or crook, we witnessed and visited and had meetings and had revivals and prayed and did everything. And you know what? We baptized 100 people that year. Praise God. That's the same year Bassanio baptized 2,000 in Oklahoma City. About the time I got up to the goal, they moved it ahead. About the time you catch up with the Joneses, they refinance.

That's just about the way it works. And always, if you are going to measure your success in your life by somebody else, I guarantee there's always somebody doing a lot better than you are. What does that mean? If Bassanio baptized 2,000 and I only baptized 100, does that mean that God was that much more pleased with him than he was with me? I mean, how do you measure it? How can you know tonight? Do you believe that what you're doing for the Lord is all right? Do you believe tonight that if you were to stand in the presence

of Jesus and you would say, Lord, tell me what you think about my Christian life. Tell me what you think about my Christian service. Do you think he would say, you're doing good? And I tell you this much, unless he says it, nothing else much matters, does it? Well, what does it take to please Jesus? It must take a lot. He must be a hard taskmaster. That's why I love this story of Mary. They're having a dinner, a party, and Mary does something that is totally improper. As you understand, in those days and in that culture, women were not supposed to be seen or heard, and when the men were gathering, they were to keep out of sight. And so the first thing that Mary did here was to break a very serious social custom, but she has to do something.

Jesus has raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, and so Mary, propelled by love and gratitude, does something very strange. She has an alabaster box, a perfume bottle, if you please, a perfume bottle, which is worth 300 pence, which is about $50 in our money, which was a year's wage of the average working man in those days. We're talking a lot of money. You take what your annual wage would be. How would you like to have that much in a bottle of perfume? That's

exactly what it was. And she brought that thing and she broke it. I mean, she broke it and spilled it all out over Jesus. And the minute she did it, she began to hear the chorus of criticism led by Judas, who says, why was the waste of this ointment made? Why, this could have been sold for 300 pence and been given to the poor. Lord, why did you let her do this? I mean, she's wasted it. Can you imagine how much good could have been done for the hungry and for the poor if we'd taken it and sold it and distributed the money? You know, I had to kind of agree with Judas.

And I know I'm in trouble. Anytime I find myself on the same side of an issue as Judas And I know I'm in trouble. Anytime I find myself on the same side of an issue, Judas, I know I'm in deep trouble. But it's hard to fault Judas' logic here. Because when you get down to it, what this woman did was very useless. It was totally impractical. It was of no value whatsoever.

A lot of good things could have been done if she had used her head and been a good steward of that. And yet Jesus says something. And I can almost see Mary as she kneels there listening to all of the criticism and probably thinking that Jesus is about to criticize her too. And then she hears the word of her Lord as He says, Let her alone.

I like what she's done. She hath wrought a good work on me. You call it waste. I call it worship. You criticize it. I commend it. She hath wrought a good work on me. And I like what she did.

And I like it so much, I'm never going to forget it. And I'm going to make certain you don't ever forget it. And wherever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what she has done will be spoken of as a memorial to her love and faithfulness. And here we are tonight, 2,000 years later, talking about what Mary did. She had done a good thing. What does it take to get that from the Master. Let me just share with you what I believe are these simple requirements. What does Jesus expect from me? What does Jesus demand from you? Number one,

do what you can. That's it. That simple. Do what you can. Lord, what do you require of me? Do what you can. Lord, how can I know when I've done enough? You do what you can. Listen to what Jesus says. She has done what she could.

Implying there that this was about all she could do. But she did what she could. Now, you say, well, what she did was worthless. That's your opinion. You say, what she did was a waste. That was Judas's opinion. Jesus, when he commented on it, he said, she hath wrought a good and eternal and lasting work on me. And as I said a moment ago, I think they were having a party. And I believe what is happening is that after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, that Mary and Martha are there, and they're trying to, in a way, have a victory celebration, trying to express their gratitude to Jesus for restoring their brother to them.

And you notice the Scripture says, and Martha served. Practically every time you find Martha, she's in the kitchen. Martha, of course, you've heard of find Martha, she's in the kitchen. Martha, of course, you've heard of the Martha Mary syndrome, you know. Martha is the practical one. Martha is the one who is always busy doing things, and she's so talented and so able. Mary, on the other hand, is sort of a dreamer, a contemplator. You don't get much out of her. She's kind of a klutz in the kitchen, and that's the way she is. I think there's some truth to that. I think that the Scriptures gives us that picture of Mary and Martha. Martha served. Why would the Holy Spirit make such an issue of that in recording

that? They were there in that house, and Martha served. Why? Well, because Martha, the elder sister, is expressing to Jesus her gratitude for what Jesus has done for her and her brother. And you see, it's easy for Martha to demonstrate that because, well, she's got so much talent. You know, there are people like that. There are people like that who just seem to drip with talent. They just seem to ooze with creativity, and they can just do anything and everything. Have you ever noticed that? And they can go into a room, and they know how to fix it up so it's just so striking.

They can take garbage and make art out of it. You know, people like that, I mean, they're so talented. Disgusting people, aren't they? Can't stand people like that. Just drip with creativity. Every time they touch something, it turns into art. It's so easy for them to express themselves. But there's Mary.

Oh, Mary is a very little practical good. She's all thumbs when it comes to doing things. And I can imagine her watching her older sister Martha and maybe with some envy and say, oh, I wish I had Martha's ability. I wish there was something I could do because I'm just as grateful to Jesus as she is. My heart is overflowing just as her heart is overflowing.

And I've got to do something. And you know, you have to. You cannot love Jesus and keep it to yourself. You somehow have to express that. And so here is Mary in her predicament, and suddenly she remembers that bottle of perfume. And she retrieves it from its hiding place. And I don't think she thinks much about it.

I don't believe she gives this a lot of consideration. She is motivated by love and compelled by gratitude. And she comes and breaks that bottle and pours it out on Jesus. What did she do? She did what she could. I want you to notice that she used something that was already in her possession.

When she cast about and perhaps said, Lord, what can I do? God didn't say, well, if you'll do this and acquire this and if you only had this gift and if you only had this thing,

then you could be as good as your sister's doing. That's not what he said. Mary was able to do that tremendous thing for Jesus. It doesn't say that Martha's cooking is going to be spoken of as a memorial to her, but Mary's breaking of the alabaster box is. And Mary could have said to herself,

if I had Martha's ability, I could do something. Well, you don't have Martha's ability, so forget about it. What do you have? God did not require of Mary anything that she did not already have. It was something already in her possession. You see, you and I excuse ourselves sometimes by saying, well, if I had their talent, if I had their opportunity, if I was in their place of service

where I could do a great work and make a big splash. No, listen, God does not require from you anything that He requires from anybody else. Whatever He requires from you, I have news for you. You've got it. It's in your hand. You may not recognize it, but it's there because the Lord never demands more from you than he himself has given you. When I was a little boy, my brother

and I around Christmas time would go to my dad and ask him for money so we could buy him a Christmas present. You know, it didn't occur to me how ridiculous that was. It didn't recur to me how ridiculous that was until my children started coming to me wanting money so they can buy me a Christmas present. But anyway, Barry and I would go to Dad, and Dad would pull out his wallet. I can still see him doing it, and pick out maybe $3 and give it to us.

We'd go downtown, Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Walgreens Drugstore, and buy my dad a pipe and a can of Prince Albert tobacco. We did that every year. Now, my dad did not smoke a pipe. Never did. I don't know why we bought that. I've asked my brother in later years, why did we buy it? I don't know why we bought that. I've asked my brother in later years, why did we buy it? I

don't know why. But for some reason, we would take that money, go down there and buy him a pipe and a can of Prince Albert tobacco, and we would go home and wrap it up and put a little ribbon on it with a card that said to Daddy from Barry and Ronnie. And on Christmas morning, we gave back to Dad that which he had simply given us in the first place. Isn't that neat? My dad didn't require a bit more from me than he had given me. If he had said,

Son, why don't you spend more money on me? I'd say, Why don't you give me more? I mean, I'll spend every dime you give me. But do you realize that's what Christian service is? Do you realize that's what faith is? Do you realize that's what love is? You know what you do when you're loving God? You're simply giving back to God the love that He has first given you.

Do you know what you're doing when you're putting your faith in God? You're simply giving back to God the faith which He in the first place has given to you. Do you know what you do when you pray? You're simply giving back to God the petition that He Himself the first place has given to you? Do you know what you do when you pray? You're simply giving back to God the petition that He Himself has put into your heart. God doesn't expect a bit more from you than He has given you. He doesn't expect you to do what somebody else does

or this person does. You remember what, I love that story of Elijah, the woman, the widow, whose husband having died left her in great debt. And you remember the creditors were about to come and take her sons until the debt was paid off. And she went to Elijah and told him of her predicament. And you remember what Elijah said?

He said, let's have a garage sale. Actually, he didn't say that, but that was the first garage sale. He said, what do you have in your house? What he was saying is, we've got to have something in your house that we can take and turn into cash, and then we can pay off this debt and save your sons. What do you have in your house? And she said, oh, thy handmaiden hath nothing in the house.

Oh, there's a little pot of oil. I'm embarrassed to even mention that. There's not anything in my house. There's nothing, nothing, just a little pot of oil. Elijah says, tell your sons to go and borrow some barrels from the neighbors and tell them to borrow not a few. And they did. And they went in the house and they shut the door. And that woman took that insignificant, hardly worth mentioning bottle of oil and began pouring it into those barrels, filled up every one of those barrels, gave her enough to sell and pay her debts and live on in comfort for the rest of our life. What is that in your house? What do you have in your house?

Oh, Lord, there's not anything here. Yes. He said to Moses, Moses, I want you to lead my people out of Egypt. And Moses gave seven reasons why he couldn't do it, why he's unqualified. And God said, Moses, what is that in thy hand? What's that in your hand?

I see something in your hand. What is that? Oh, this is a piece of wood, Lord. I use it as a staff. It helps me to pull the sheep back and I can beat off wolves with it. Several years ago, I just broke it off of a tree.

It's just a piece of wood, Lord. What is that in your hand? Oh, just a piece of wood. Throw. What is that in your hand? Oh, just a piece of wood. Throw it down. And he threw it down. You remember, it became the rod of God. And Moses used it to deliver a nation from bondage. What is that in your hand?

David comes and he sees Goliath and he says, I can do something about this. And Saul says, better take my armor, better take my sword. No, it's too big, too much. I have my little slingshot here and five smooth stones. You mean that's all you're going out there with? That's all I'm going out there with. What is that in your hand?

Oh, I tell you, if we only understood that most of the time the very things we're trying to get rid of in our lives are the very things God's trying to use to bless us. I have a tape ministry. That tape ministry is responsible for the greater part of my ministry, as a matter of fact. Most of the doors, if not nearly all the doors

God has opened for me throughout these years all over the world, has been a result of the tape ministry. And I can't even take credit for that because it wasn't my idea. Back in 1970 or 71, one of the staff members said, why don't we tape the service? And we've got folks in the hospital who can't be here on Sunday, and we'll make copies of the tape of the service and take them up there and let them hear the services. And so we did. And then somebody said, well, I want a copy of that

and I want a copy of that. And all of a sudden it began to escalate and I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of tapes we've sent out in all these years since 1971. But I do know this, that God has used that to be the major part of my ministry. Most of you here tonight, you will say something to me about the tapes, and that's where you first heard of our ministry,

and God has used it in a marvelous way, and I can't even take credit for it. Of course, I don't listen to them on tape, you understand. Can't stand to hear myself. I never will forget the first time I heard myself on tape. I was so embarrassed. I said, do I sound like that? See, I was born in Oklahoma, raised in Arkansas, and live in Texas, and I have what my dad always said, I've got lazy lips. You don't finish your words. You don't say, I'm going fishing. You say, I'm going fishing. Of course, some of you say the same thing. I've got a high-pitched nasal voice. I have trouble enunciating.

I have trouble pronouncing words. I was preaching through Colossians. I had to put it off for a long time until I learned to pronounce evil concupiscence. I went for months without being able to say phenomenon. Did I say it right? Yes. I worked on that. See, I've got an extra long tongue.

Well, I really have. I really have. I can touch my nose with my tongue. I'm not going to, but I can do it. And when I played the trumpet in high school and in college, I could never learn to triple tongue because I had too much tongue. And it makes it difficult for me to pronounce and to enunciate. And when I heard my voice on tape, terrible. I was embarrassed. And then I heard Adrian Rogers. I remember I heard him in 1972 in Philadelphia at the convention. I wanted to go out and cut my throat. Then I had a better idea. I said, I'll cut his throat. Get rid of him.

I tried to preach like Adrian Rogers, you know. And I preached like this for about a month. And went hoarse. Lost my voice. And I went to the doctor, and he said, Preacher, you're forming nodules on your vocal cords, and if you do not learn how to speak properly, you're going to ruin your voice. He sent me down to the Collier Speech Clinic in Dallas, which is one of the nation's finest. The first thing they do there is give you a test to find out what is your natural pitch.

And my natural pitch is up here somewhere, meaning that I will never be able to have a deep, resonant, booming voice. Well, I was out in Arizona and a fellow came up to me after the service. He was from Los Angeles and he was in the broadcasting ministry, business, industry. And he said, you know, preacher, you've got the perfect voice for cassette tapes. He said, your voice, the pitch of it, is just perfect for reproduction on cassette tapes. He said, if your voice were any deeper, what he meant was, I guess, if you had a real beautiful voice. He said, if it's any deeper, he said it wouldn't come across as well, but he said, your voice is perfect for cassette tape.

You know what I did? I went back to my motel that night and got down on my knees and asked God to forgive me for despising the voice that he'd given me. I still find it difficult to listen to my own tapes. But you know what? I got to thinking, maybe the reason the Lord gave me the voice He gave me

was maybe the reason He did that was because He thought maybe someday He might use me in a tape ministry. You suppose that has anything to do with it? What is that in your hand? Lord, what can I do? Do what you can, that's all. Don't worry about it.

Don't sweat it. Don't panic over it. Don't measure yourself by somebody else. What can I do? Do what you can, that's all. Don't worry about it. Don't sweat it. Don't panic over it. Don't measure yourself by somebody else. What can I do? Just do what you can. You say, but that's not much. That's your opinion. You let the Lord be the judge of that.

Second statement, not only do what you can, but do that much. Do that much. She hath done what she could. There is limitation, I think, implied there. As a matter of fact, one translation reads, she hath done what she could. There is limitation, I think, implied there. As a matter of fact, one translation reads, She hath done all she could. She not only did what she could,

she did all she could. She did that much. My dad didn't expect any more from me on Christmas morning than he had given me, but he did expect that much. Jesus said, She h had done what she could. She's done all she could. What did she do? She came and she broke that. My son came back from Israel a couple of years ago and brought me an alabaster box. Really, it's a misnomer. It's a beautiful, tall, slender bottle that has a very, very narrow neck to it.

And what Mary did was to take that and break that neck, which, of course, meant she spilled it all. If it had been me, I would probably have brought with me a measuring cup. I would have reasoned, well, you know, times are hard, and this is all I've got. This is my IRA or my pension or, you know, one of these days I may need help and I may need to sell this and live off this. And after all, Jesus doesn't, you know, Jesus hasn't asked me to do this. He hasn't commanded me to do this.

I mean, and, you know, I mean, if it's for God, you don't have to, you know, God. I'll just, I'll be, I'll measure out. I'll be generous. I will. I'll be generous. I will. I'll be generous. But I want to make certain that I don't overdo it. You know, I need to leave something

for myself for the future. So I'll be very, very careful and measure it out. That's not what she did. That's not what love does. She broke it. Poured it all out. No measuring glass, no measuring spoon.

She poured it all out on him. Do what you can, but make certain you've done that much. All we with our measuring cups. It has always amused me. People who figure their tithe out to the nearest penny, $35.12. Why don't you do something great this week and round it off to the nearest dollar?

But we want to make certain that we don't do more than is required of us. And after all, this person over here is not doing very much anyway. You remember when Jesus was reinstating Peter into his position of leadership in John 21, and Jesus was telling Peter what he wanted him to do. Peter looked back and saw John following him. He said, Lord, what's this man going to do? Jesus said, that's none of your business.

You follow me and I'll do what I want to with John. Do what you can but make certain you do that much. I do not believe that God judges us on the basis of what we do as far as reward is concerned. I believe He judges us on the basis of what we could have done. It's not what I am, but it's what could I have been.

It's not what I have accomplished for the Lord but what could I have accomplished if I had given my all are there people not saved tonight because I had not poured out everything on Jesus have people not been blessed and delivered because I myself held back drops? Have I given all of myself to Him? Jesus said a very startling thing to Capernaum.

He said it will be easier in the day of judgment on Solomon and Gomorrah than on you because if the things done here had been done in Solomon and Gomorrah, they would have repented a long time ago. Jesus said, A slave who does not know his will, his master's will,

does not know his master's will and does not do it shall be beaten but with few stripes. But the slave that knows his master's will and still doesn't do it, he shall be beaten with many stripes. You see, God does not judge us on the amount of sin we commit,

but on the amount of light we reject. Do what you can, but make certain you do that much. You're about ready to give up that class of junior boys. I can understand that. Just driving you crazy. You said, I've certain you do that much. You're about ready to give up that class of junior boys. I can understand that. Just driving you crazy. You said, I've done all I can do.

Have you really? Have you? You've got this neighbor you've been praying for and witnessing to, and you say, well, I'm going to give up because, well, have you done, have you prayed all you can pray? Have you wept all you can weep?

Have you done as much as you know to do? Do what you can. Make certain you do that much. And finally, one last word. Do it now. Do it now. You know, something remarkable occurred to me one day as I studied this passage of Scripture.

When everybody began to criticize Mary for what she had done, Jesus came to her defense. And he said, leave her alone, she hath wrought a good work on me, she has done what she could. She is come ahead of time to

anoint my body for burying. Isn't that what he says? Hmm. Boy, that's news toying. Isn't that what he says? Hmm. Well, that's news to Mary. That's not what Mary had in mind. That was the furthest thing from Mary's mind. You say, well, what was she doing? I don't know.

She doesn't know what she's doing either. All she knows is she was doing something that she had to do out of love and gratitude and she wanted to worship Jesus the best way she knew how, and so she did that. But when Jesus stood up and began to identify what she had done, you know what he called it? He said, she has come ahead of time to anoint my body for burying. Now, first of all, that tells me that every act of obedience to the Lord has farther reaching consequences than you and I could ever dream of.

It's like dropping a rock in a pool of water and the ripples go all the way to the other side. What you do here affects the other side. What you do here affects the other side. And I want you to know the smallest act of obedience, the smallest expression of love accomplishes far more

than you and I ever realized. Listen, we do more than we think we're doing. A cup of water given in the name of Jesus is far more than just a cup of water given to somebody name of Jesus is far more than just a cup of water given to somebody. Every time you obey the Lord,

every time you express your love to Jesus or for somebody else, you're doing a lot more than you know you're doing. And one of these days down the line, you may see the effect that what you did back here has down here in the mind of God. But Jesus said, she has come anoint my body for burying. And I say to you, that's not what she had the mind of God. But Jesus said, she has come anointing my body for burying.

And I say to you, that's not what she had in mind at all. I mean, you don't anoint somebody's body for burial unless they're dead. Jesus wasn't dead. He wasn't even sick. He was a young man in the prime of life, a healthy young man.

And the last thing in her mind was anointing this man's body for burial. That was the last thing in her mind was anointing this man's body for burial. That was the last thing in her mind. It would be the same as if I were to come to Michael tonight and say, Michael, you know, I really appreciate all you've done for me this week, and I want to show my appreciation to you by, I want to buy you a coffin. And several of the deacons have offered to help me buy that for you. Well, I think what your pastor would say,

well, I appreciate the thought, but I could use a new pair of shoes, rather. You know, you don't give people coffins for gifts. Mary wasn't anointing his body for burying. At least she didn't know she was. She was doing far more. That simple little act that was criticized and despised by others was one of the most tremendous things anybody had ever done for Jesus.

And that's what real Christian service is. It is just taking the smallest little insignificant thing and pouring it out on Jesus. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burying. One week later, Jesus was dead. If you had been in the vicinity of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea on that first Sunday morning, you could have seen coming through the mist

some women making their way down the path. You might have stepped out in front of them and said, where are you ladies going this early on Sunday morning? And they could have said, well, our Lord and Master was crucified the other day and the soldiers took his body down and put it in a tomb and sealed

it with a stone and we didn't have a chance to anoint his body for burying and we're carrying perfumes and spices today. We're on our way to the tomb. See if we can persuade the soldiers to roll the stone away so we can anoint our Lord's body for burial. And

so you follow them as they go down the path. And you see as they see when you arrive that the stone has already been rolled away. And you follow them in the tomb and looking over their shoulder, you see what they see. Nothing. Jesus is gone.

He's risen. He's risen. And those perfumes and spices Jesus is gone. He's risen. And those perfumes and spices they have in their hands go unused. They're about a week too late. Can you imagine if Mary hadn't done what she did

when she did it? Her first chance was her only chance. What if she had said, Oh, not today, not today. It's inconvenient. There are too many people around. What if she said, I'll wait until he comes back through.

He's always coming back through town, always stopping over to see us. I'll wait until he comes back another time. He never came back. That's why I say, Whatever you do, you do it now. You do it now.

There is one other thing that has significance in this story and John records it in the 12th chapter of his gospel we read it a moment ago did you notice there was something different about John's account look at verse 3 then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,

and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. She anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. There is Mary kneeling in front of Jesus. Now Mark says that she anointed his head. John says she anointed his feet. Well, which was it? It was both.

She anointed both his head and his feet. Mark just recorded the anointing of the head. John recorded the anointing of the feet. John recorded the anointing of the feet. And so there she is, kneeling at the feet of Jesus, anointing his feet with that perfume. And all of a sudden she realizes that in her haste, she really hasn't planned this very well, in her haste she didn't think to bring a towel,

and that perfume now is dripping off his feet onto the floor, and she doesn't know what to do, how to clean his feet, how to wipe his feet. She said, didn't bring a towel. And suddenly she reaches behind her neck and takes that long black hair and pulls it over her shoulder. And perhaps she braids it a couple of times. She makes a towel of her hair and she wipes his feet with her hair. And that's when the room was filled with the fragrance. Do you see what's happened?

What Mary poured out on Jesus has now come back on her. And that's the way it works, folks. What you pour out on Jesus always comes back on you. You know, there are a few people I can be around that are different from other people. They have a certain fragrance about their life. You know what I'm talking about?

There are some people that being around them I feel nearer Jesus than I do at other times. There just is a fragrance about their life. You can't really put your finger on it. You can't really identify it. It's hard to put into words.

You don't know what it is. But there are some folks that when you're around them, there is just something different. There is a fragrance that comes from their life that reminds you of Jesus. You're in the presence of somebody who knows what it means to break their alabaster box and pour it all out on Jesus.

And the room was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. When I started preaching in 1952, I was just 15 years old. I can't believe anybody listened to me preach when I was 15 years old, but they did, kind of a novelty. Of course, the first time they had to because I preached in Fort Smith City Jail. They had no choice but to listen to me. But there were several of the kids in our church who formed a little revival team. We went to the First Baptist Church of Clarksville, Arkansas.

I was 16. Oh, man. 16 years old. One night, one of the fellows would preach and the other would lead the music. Next night, he'd preach and the other person would lead the music. I don't remember hardly anything about that meeting. I really don't.

I just remember we were there. I remember the house that we stayed in. I remember the pastor's name. Dr. Yeldale was his name. But I don't remember anything else about the meeting. That was in 1953. In 1987, I believe it was. What is that?

20-something years later? I went back to First Baptist Church of Clarksville, Arkansas. And a fellow came up to me and he said, do you remember when you were here in 1953? And I said, well, I remember that I was here.

He said, I want to show you something. He said, I was sitting right there on that front pew, just a kid. And he said, I remember sitting right there on that front pew, just a kid. And he said, I remember everything you said that night. And when you gave the invitation, I got up, came down, and trusted Christ as my Savior. I said, thank you, Lord. It's good to hear that once in a while.

It's good. Back in 1979, Kay and I were in Filey, England at the Christian Crusade, Filey Christian Crusade, which was a crusade they held every year. It was actually a Bible conference for people in the United Kingdom. Billy Graham had started it after the great revivals in England to try to preserve the results of those great crusades and it was on their 25th anniversary and Kay and I were there. I was preaching and Stephen Olford and his wife Heather were also there preaching. We were doing the preaching. On Thursday at Philey, they always have as missionary day and the regular preachers don't preach. What they have are missionaries who are there on furlough or retired giving their testimonies and telling

about what God has done on their field. Well, on Thursday night, Kay and I were sitting on the platform next to Dr. and Mrs. Oldford, and there had been two or three missionaries who had given their testimonies. And then one man stood up, and I began to give his testimony to the congregation. He said, I've just come back from serving in Ethiopia for 25 years. I spent 25 years serving God in that country. He said, 27 years ago, I attended another conference like this called the Keswick Convention. And at the Keswick Convention, they have Mission Day once a week too. And on that day, all the missionaries speak and preach, and they give a great deal of emphasis

to it. And he said, I was there as a young Christian businessman, and I had never even considered giving my life to Christ as far as service was concerned. All I knew was that I was saved. But he said that day, a man stood and preached a message with such great anointing of the Spirit of God that I was convicted in my heart. And when the invitation was given, I went forward and I committed my life to serve God as a missionary.

He said that was 27 years ago. And for the past 25 years, I've been serving God. And he said, you know, I never have had a chance to thank that preacher for the sermon he preached 27 years ago. And he turned around and walked over and took Dr. Olford's hand and said, thank you, Dr. Olford, for the sermon you preached 27 years ago. And there was a fragrance that filled the room. What you pour out on Jesus

always comes back on you. So, do what you can. Make sure you do that much and do it now. Would you bow your heads with me? Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification,

not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, sold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.