Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Makes Life Worth Living | New Testament | John 12

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

What are you living for? Everyone answers this question differently. Maybe you're living for money, your career, a family, or something else entirely. In today's episode, Keith studies John 12 to discover the one (and only) thing that is truly worth living for. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: John 12

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. What's the one thing that makes sense out of your life, the one thing that is really worth living for? I think most of us think there is something out there that should give our life meaning, but a lot of people can't find it. What's the one thing that makes life worth living? Everyone answers it differently. Look at commercials and you'll walk away thinking that the thing that makes life worth living is stuff. The more stuff you have, the better stuff you have, the newer stuff you have, the happier and more fulfilled you'll be. Other people, they look for purpose and meaning.

They think the one thing is career. So how did Steve Jobs lure John Scully away from his job as CEO of Pepsi in order to get him to come to Apple? Well, he looked at John Scully and asked him, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world? Hear what he's offering him, something that gives him meaning. So whether you look at accumulating stuff or ambition, making a difference in the world to give your life meaning, I think there's a woman that you're going to meet in the New Testament in John chapter 12 that is going to challenge you, just like she challenges me.

Her name is Mary. Now, there are a lot of Mary's in the New Testament. I think by my count, at least six of them, including the mother of Jesus. This Mary is the Mary of Bethany. She has a sister named Martha and a famous brother you may have heard of named Lazarus. Every time we see this Mary, she's sitting at Jesus' feet trying to learn something or worship him. And that's exactly where we find her in John chapter 12. I'm going to read the first eight verses and then we'll talk about it.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here at dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Ascariot, who was later to betray him, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.

As keeper of the money back, he used to help himself to what he put into it. Leave her alone, Jesus replied. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. Like I said, every time we see this Mary in the New Testament, she's at the feet of Jesus, learning from him, confessing her faith in him, and in this passage, worshiping him with all that she is and all that she has, Mary's posture toward Jesus, sitting at his feet, teaches us something about Jesus, and that is that he is the one thing that we want to live for. Forget what everybody else says. Forget the cultural pressure. Forget all the false promises that our culture makes.

Jesus is the only one your life is worth living for. Everything else will disappoint. you. Everything else will let you down, but Jesus will never fail you. So break the bottle of the most valuable thing you have and give it to Jesus. That's what this woman Mary does in verse three. She takes this nard oil extract. It's from a plant grown in India. Pure nard. It's about 11 ounces. It's very expensive. It was dabbed onto a guest of honor. She takes what would cost someone a year's wages. We don't know if that's how she got it, like she worked for the money and bought this, or if she got it from family money or if it was an heirloom passed down in her family. But what we do know is that this Nard was the most valuable thing that Mary had. This was her security. This was her happiness. And she

broke it and spent it all on Jesus. It's never a mistake to give everything you have to Jesus. It's not a waste to give your life to him. See, I think that's what this passage is doing. It's asking you to spend your life on Jesus. If I told you that I wanted you to buy something for 10 bucks, you probably wouldn't ask too many questions. Okay, just give it to me. Here's $10. But if I said it cost $100, you'd start to ask some questions. If I cost $1,000, will everybody be asking a lot of questions? If I said it would cost you your retirement or your home or your life, well, you'd be going, hang on a second, is this worth it? Is Jesus worth it? Is Jesus worth your life? I mean, let's just stop and think about Jesus. And there is no one like him. We look up.

to people, we respect, admire people, and that's right and good. There's nothing wrong with that. But how much more should we respect and admire Jesus? Because everything you admire in a person is found perfectly in him. Do you admire a rich person? Well, Jesus's riches are unsearchable and incomparable. The earth and all that's in it belong to him. He is rich, not only in things, but also rich in grace and rich in mercy, for he never runs out of either. Jesus is the inexhaustible, unending fountain of love. Do you admire a wise person? In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When he was 12 years old, he amazed the religious teachers in the temple. Later, his opponents set traps for him, but they were unable to trip him up. He would always turn

the tables on them. He asked questions that no one could answer, and he answered questions that no one had even thought to ask. People came from all over the world to hear the wise king Solomon, but in Jesus, one far wiser than Solomon is here. Do you admire a strong person? No one possesses strength and power like Jesus. He spoke the whole world into creation. All things were made by him and for him. He rules over nature, calming storms and walking on water. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Jesus powerfully reigns over all the spiritual forces in this world. Every angel and every demon is subject to his authority. Jesus is the name above all names so that that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you admire a good person? Jesus was tempted in every way, and yet was without sin. He was never selfish, never greedy, he never gossiped. He always obeyed the great commandment to love God and to love others. He sought out the hurting, the marginalized in the outcast. He extended kindness and grace to the condemned. Jesus loves to give good gifts to his children. Everything we look for, everything we long for can be found in Jesus. Every greatness, every wealth, every wisdom, every power, every goodness, every beauty, every love that we are longing for can only truly, purely be found in him. The most joyous marriage, the most meaningful job, the most beautiful vacation, the most

blessed parenthood, the most adorable babies pale in comparison to the joy and blessing of Jesus. We could go on and on about Jesus, right? But instead of saying that we don't have time, let's just take a few more moments to think about Jesus. If we are going to spend our life on him, if we are going to trade everything in to get him, then we need to know the treasures that are in Jesus. If we're going to be like Mary and break the bottle of our life,

we have to know, is he worth it? Jesus loves sinners like us. He ate lunch with prostitutes and crooked business. men, not just the moral and the religious leaders. Jesus is never put off by the messiness of our life. In all our stumbling and failing, Jesus has never said and never will say, enough, I'm out, because where sin abounds, grace abounds more. Jesus' glory and majesty will one day soon make every Hollywood superhero look small and silly. There was nothing physically attractive about Jesus. He would have never appeared on the cover of men's health. He

came as a normal man for all people, not just beautiful people. Jesus never misunderstands us. He never interrupts us. He never misjudges our motives or loses his patience with us. Jesus chose the path of humility. He knows what it is to be thirsty and hungry, hated, rejected, taunted, shamed, abandoned, suffocated, tortured, and killed. Psalm 8410 says, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Psalm 73 says, Whom have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire besides you. There's a story of a missionary who had just arrived back in the United States after spending

many years overseas. He took a bus across the country to reunite with his children. The bus stopped in Las Vegas where the group was to spend the night. This man walked the strip and he saw everything that Vegas had to offer. He went up to his room, opened the curtains, looked down at the strip, and got down on his knees and prayed, God, I thank you that tonight I haven't seen anything I want more than you. Is that how you feel? Can you say, I've looked around, I've seen the riches, I've seen the beauty, I've seen the power, and there's nothing I want more than Jesus.

That's because Jesus is the treasure hidden in the field. That's because Jesus is the pearl of great pride. Paul says in Philippians 3, what is more I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. When I'm like Mary and break the bottle of my life, spend my life on Jesus, it's not a sacrifice. It's a bargain. I give up my life and get Jesus? What a deal? What's keeping you from Jesus?

Is it sexuality or money or personal autonomy? me? Is it other people's thoughts about you? It makes no sense to hold on to things of lesser value and to miss out on things of greater value. Mary teaches us to break the bottle to surrender it all on Jesus. We get uncomfortable with passion when it comes to religion. We like to say all things in moderation. Let's be balanced. Let's have perspective. Let's don't get carried away with religion. Now understand that people will binge watch an entire season of TV shows on Netflix and call that normal. They'll spend thousands of dollars on a trip to Europe or even more on a wedding and call that normal.

They'll train for hours each week to maintain their physical health. That's normal. They'll join a fantasy sports league and track it like a Wall Street trader. Normal. They'll sign elementary and middle school kids onto traveling sports teams that keep families busy and broke. That's normal. But if you devote your life to following Jesus, if you sell out to Jesus,

if you break your bottle of the most valuable thing you have at the feet of Jesus, if you surrender everything you have to Jesus, well then you're called extreme. You're probably unhealthy. And so we stumble around from one thing to the next, looking for something to give our lives to, and we come up empty. We get a little bit of Jesus. We say Jesus with moderation. But then that explains why we're empty. It explains why deep in our souls we don't have what we desperately want to live for. Because underneath all the chit-chat and all the bills and all the workplace drama and all our hobbies that keep us busy, all our church events, underneath all of that is a longing for something that is worthy of our lives. When we see Jesus and all his glory and all his beauty and all his love and all his mercy and all his power,

when we finally see him for who he truly is, the only appropriate response is the one that Mary had in John chapter 12, and that is to break the bottle to spend our life on Him. Let's go all in on Jesus. Amen.