The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 18: Extravagant Gratitude

Episode Date: August 8, 2021

The heart of worship is gratitude for who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Are you grateful? Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. John chapter 11 is where we're going to be. And in our time together this morning, we are going to talk about extravagant gratitude. Maybe you've heard me say this before, but unexpressed gratitude is pretty much useless. Husbands, unexpressed gratitude is pretty much useless. I know you feel it and hear, but if it doesn't come out of your mouth, it really doesn't mean anything. And so we're going to talk about that.

We're going to talk about extravagant gratitude. who, one of the couple of things I'm very, very thankful for. I'm very thankful for our CFO Paul Williams. You have no idea, but just trust me. He's the smartest guy I know. He was trained in Wall Street, and then God redeemed him and brought him here to our church. And I'm also thankful for our partners like CFR.

They help us do things that we believe that God has called us to do. And every year at this time, there's another group of people I am especially thankful for. And that's our teachers, our coaches, our administrators. Amen? So if you are a teacher, a coach, an administrator, would you please stand to your feet at all of our locations, okay? If you're watching online at home, just stand up where you are. Good. Stand up and stay standing. Don't sit down. Stand up, stand up, stand up. All right. Praise God. Praise God. Stay there, okay? Just know this. Don't sit down. Hey, whoa, in the back. You're not a good listener.

That's it. You'll get detention. You have to come to the 1122 service. All right, so here's the thing. Here's the thing. we appreciate you even more this year because we had to try to do what you do at home and you must be called. Okay, you are a missionary and there's no doubt about it, all right? I'm telling you. So listen to me, in a world where people argue about prayer in the Bible and the gospel being in the schools, here's what I know. As long as we have believers like you in our schools, then the Lord is in our schools because we've got missionaries like you in all of our schools. Praise God.

And on a morning where we all woke up and we heard the news that, Coach Bowden went to be with the Lord. He's a football coach that led Coach Mark Rick to the Lord, and those men led thousands of young men and women to the Lord. And just hear this too. The person that told me about Jesus was not a preacher, was not a pastor, was not an evangelist. He was a junior high football coach, okay? So you have no idea the impact that you will have on one more generation. And so we love you, we are grateful for you. And so if you're sitting close to one of these folks and it's appropriate, reach out, put your hand on their elbow or something, and all of us, would you reach your hands forward, and let's pray for our teachers and coaches.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, you are good and you are gracious. And we thank you so much for the call that you have on the lives of these men and women. And, Lord, we pray that they would declare the gospel with their lips and with their lives and with their attitudes, and that when they are in contact with other teachers and coaches and administrators, and when they are in contact with our children, with the students, with one more generation, that those kids and those adults would just understand there's something different about this one. And what's different about this one is that they love because they know that you have first loved them. Lord, I pray for these teachers and all schools represented that this would be the best year ever.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, take them, please. All right. So, anyway, John chapter 11, we're going to pick it up in verse 45. We're picking up where we left off last week. This is really the turning point in the Gospel of John.

Up until this point, John has covered the first three years of Jesus' ministry, and now all of the rest of the Gospel of John essentially is about the last week of his life. So he goes from his public ministry to the passion, and here's the turning point, verse 45. many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did. And what he did is he brought Lazarus out of the grave. What he did is Lazarus was in the tomb for four days, and Jesus walks up on it and says, Lazarus, get up out of here, and he comes back to life. And people see that, and they believed in him.

So some people believe. Why? Because seeing this believing, I'm just telling you, if you rolled up on a man who claimed to be God, that's fine. but when he brings dead people out of the grave, I'm just telling you, I don't know about you, I'd be convinced. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

So some believe and become followers of Jesus and some tattle on Jesus. It's unbelievable to me. I've been doing this for a long time, 20-something years, 28 years, 29 years, something like that. And it's unbelievable to me, and I see it every single week, that people can experience the same thing. Hear the same sermon.

go to the same church, see all of the same evidences, and have polar opposite reactions to that evidence. Some people roll up in Bethany, and they see Lazarus was dead, and now he's alive, and so they believe. In fact, that's why some of you are here. You haven't maybe seen a person physically go from death to life, but you've seen somebody spiritually go from death to life, and you thought if Tammy could be saved, because you weren't with Tammy. and she was the worst. She was the worst. And then you watched her, maybe not overnight, but over time, and you think, well, if God can save her, then maybe he could save me too.

And that's why you're here. Praise God for that. Because we've seen over a thousand miracles this year of Jesus calling dead people to life in Him. Praise God. And then there are some people that see the same thing, and then they just tattel. That's what this group would do. They're going to the Pharisees. they're like, Jesus isn't doing it right.

He's bringing stinky dead people back to life. Okay, so some people see and believe and some people see and criticize. It's just what happens. Not only that, sometimes it happens in the sermon, man. I'm talking about I'll be up here preaching, preaching, preaching, and some of you are into it.

You usually sit right here and you moo, you're, and suck it, and then you take notes and cry. Two people over you're just scrolling Pinterest. I don't understand. Well, this makes me feel better. Some people see and believe, and some people see and they'll go tattle. Verse 47.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council. This is what religious people will do, by the way. Religious people, God will do a miracle and then religious people get together to vote on whether God did it right or not. That's what they do.

Jesus brought a dead man back to life. You should be throwing a party and they're throwing a fit. That's what they're doing. Because he does not fit into their religious box and so they gather together a council and they said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

And if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. There it is. There is the heart of every man-made religion. These men are not concerned about the law of God. They're not even concerned about taking

care of the people of God that they are supposed to serve. You see, what they want to make sure happens is they don't lose their place, their temple, their authority, their title, their nation. And so even if that means the people that they are supposed to serve continue under the Roman occupation and oppression, that's fine as long as I get to stay in power. This is the heartbeat of man-made religion. You see, the true foundation of man-made religion is me and control. And the foundation of a relationship with Jesus is Him and freedom.

That's the difference. You see, these religious men love to walk up in the room and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody needs to listen to us and do what. We have the fancy hats. We have the fancy titles. We decide what the rules are, and you will obey. You will know your role, just stay in your place. This is why they're so upset with Jesus, because what if people start following after him, and they don't pay attention to us? But one of them, Caiaphas, who was a high priest that year, by the way, we're going to find out not a big Jesus fan.

He's the high priest that year. He said to him, you know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. Now here's what's crazy. he's absolutely right he's right now what he's speaking of he's speaking he's speaking politically he's saying hey let's not screw this up for everybody because if if there's like an uprising here in jerusalem what's going to happen is the caesar is going to send the roman army in here is going to wipe us out so why don't we just offer him up politically allow the romans to crucify

him and then the rest of us will be fine and what he does not know is even though he is speaking selfishly and politically, what he's saying is theologically accurate. You see, what's crazy is, even though Caiaphas, the high priest, thinks he's in charge, he is still under the sovereign authority of the Most High King. And we know this because John's going to give

us some commentary. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. And not only, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one, the children of God who are scattered abroad. You know where that is? Jacksonville, that's what he's talking about. It's not conclusive of it, but it's at least part of it.

Now, how many of you know this, that God can use the ungodly to teach truth? He can't. That God can use crooked sticks to draw straight lines. The way my daddy used to say it is, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while. You know what I'm saying? A clock, even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is what's happening here. He thinks that he is self-serving, and actually what's happening is he is a part of what God is doing.

Verse 53. And so, from that day on, they, now don't look at it. Jesus brought a dead man back to life. Jesus has done many signs. Jesus has claimed to be God. You would think it would say, so from that day on, they worshipped him. Nope. So from that day on, they made plans to put him.

to death. Why? Here's why. Because he would take what is mine. That's why. The religious leaders, look at Jesus, look at what's happening, look at the following, and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, if we let him keep on going this way, he's going to take my popularity. The high priest might think, if he's really the Messiah, I'm not needed anymore. He might take my job. He might take my control. He might take what is mine. Now, I know. you're sitting here this morning and you look at this and you'd be like how could they think such a thing about Jesus let me just tell you you know who else thinks the same thing about Jesus the person sitting next to you now I know it's not you because you're holy and righteous and you're doing

awesome and your walk with the Lord fully surrendered praise God for you but just the one sitting right next to you we can walk into church and have these same thoughts let me tell you how I know okay let me tell you how I know evidence that you could be thinking that even this morning Typically, when we show those little bumper videos right before I come up to preach, you know, they're almost always baptisms, and you guys are like, woo, yeah, you're into it. But today, this one was about money, and everybody was like, oh, no. Oh, geez, I'm sorry, I should have brought you in a funny week. No, see, I'm telling you, because here's what you thought.

Uh-oh, uh-oh, he's going to take my money. He's going to take my money. And if you're a follower of Jesus, you realize none of it's yours, right? It's all his. everything you have is a blood-balled grace gift from Jesus Christ. And this sermon is not primarily about money. And even right now, some of you just went, ooh, okay, thank God.

I'm back in. All right, go for it, preacher. But we think that I'm not going to follow him because he might take my money, or he might take my freedom. I've heard about this Jesus thing, and he might take my freedom, and I like my freedom.

I like being in control of my life. Well, you can be in control of your life. That means that you are Lord of your life. by definition for Jesus to be your Lord means you are turning over control of all of your life to him he's like well whoa whoa he might take my worldview and I've heard what the church believes about sex about marriage about money about all these things and I agree with some of it but here's some other things and then I'm afraid he might take over my worldview or he might take over my way of life or he might take what is mine you see be careful man just be really really really careful

we can be hypercritical of the Pharisees as we read the New Testament, and we don't even realize we are them. And that we walk in to church week after week after week thinking that we are in control. And that's what they were afraid of most. They were afraid of losing control. And part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that when you claim him as your Lord, you lay it all down. You say, God, I'm taking all my hopes and all my dreams. and all my desires and all my sin and all the condemnation, and I'm just laying it at your feet,

and then what you get in return is that you realize that your hopes and your dreams and all of those things were too small, and he and in of himself, he is better than life. That's what we find in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 54, and Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews because they were trying to kill it. but he went from there to a region near the wilderness to a town called Ephraim and there he stayed with his disciples so he's laying low he's found him a safe house that's what's happening there okay now the

Passover of the Jews was at hand this is the third time in the gospel of john that we see the Passover come up this is partly how we know that Jesus did ministry for about three years and the reason that Jesus is laying low is not because the religious leaders or even the Roman were in control. He was in control and he was controlling the calendar because Jesus would be crucified at the Passover. And the Passover is a holiday in the old covenant to celebrate the Exodus. That God's people, God's chosen people, were a slave nation in Egypt. And then God picks an unlikely leader, Moses, who had a pretty nasty track record. And he comes to him one day while Moses is minding and his own business at work and he says, I want you to go to the Pharaoh.

and I want you to say to the Pharaoh, let my people go. And Moses is like, I don't think it's going to work. Who should I say sent me? And God gives Moses his covenant name, Yahweh. I am that I am. You tell him, I am sent me. And then he's like, well, how is he going to believe me? And so God says, I'm going to send ten plagues.

And each one of the plagues was to loosen up Pharaoh a little bit. And every one of the plagues was to prove to Pharaoh that the one true God, Yahweh, is greater than all the little G gods that the Egyptians worship, like the blood god, the Nat God, and the locust god, the water god and the moon god and all of that. And then the last plague was the plague of all plagues. It was called the plague of the firstborn. And Moses goes into Pharaoh and says, listen, there's an angel of death that is coming through Egypt.

And then God tells Moses to go to his people and say, so go get a perfect spotless lamb, shed the blood of the lamb, and you put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house. And when the angel of death comes through, the angel of death will pass over whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the house. house. And they celebrated that every single year because after that day, Pharaoh said, all right, get out of here, you're free. Because what Jesus is saying is that I am the Passover. Remember what his cousin John, the Baptist said way back at the beginning of the gospel of John when Jesus shows up up to be baptized. He says, behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world, that Jesus lives a perfect life. He is the perfect spotless lamb. He dies a sinner's death in our place.

and for whoever believes the blood of the lamb is put over the doorpost of your own heart so that when the angel of death and judgment comes on your day, whoever has the blood of Jesus on the doorpost of their heart, you are passed over, and you go from slavery into freedom into the promised land.

That's what the Passover is. It's a really, really big holiday. I know you don't get it. One of you do, that's fine. That's why I have a job, because I've got to teach you this stuff. If you understood, you'd be way more excited about that. That's fine.

He'd wake you up, sorry. All right, here we go. Now, the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus, and they were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what do you think?

That he will not come to the feasts at all? Now, the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let him know, so that they might arrest him. So everybody's got an eye out for Jesus, see if he's going to show up. I mean, chapter 12, verse 1,

And six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Remember that last week? Now, let me just ask you, last week, between last week and this week, did you do what Jesus told you to do? Because remember, he has this conversation with Martha, and he asked her, do you believe? And she says, I believe, you are the resurrection in the life. I believe that you were the Christ. And then they show up to the tomb.

and he says, all right, roll away the stone. And I told you, what stone is Jesus telling you to roll away by faith? And Martha came up with a whole bunch of excuses. Well, what happened this week? I know I rarely check up on the homework, but I remember. I know you don't remember last week, but I remember, okay, did you do what he told you to do? Because Martha began to be filled with excuses. So this week, which way did you go?

Did you go with excuses or did you go by faith and do what he told you to do? I hope he did. He shows up in this town. where Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. Verse two, so they gave a dinner for him there. Now, we find out in the Gospel of Mark that the dinner is happening at Simon the leper's house. That's what Mark tells us.

Simon the leper's house. Now, here's the thing, though, you can't eat with somebody that has leprosy, or you'll get leprosy. So I think it is pretty safe to infer here that Simon has been he. yield of leprosy. And in fact, what he's doing at his house is he's throwing a gratitude party. That's what he's doing. He hears Jesus is in town. He used to have leprosy. Now he doesn't anymore.

And so he's going to throw a party and he's saying, hmm, who should I invite? I know. How about Lazarus? He's got some stuff to be grateful for. He was dead. So, hey, Laz, what are you doing today? Not much. Wouldn't even plan on being here. Cool. Why don't you come to the party? Now, the one thing that always bums me out is as human beings, how quick we are to name people by their former condition. I wish they didn't call the man Simon the leper because he ain't a leper anymore. Why don't they call him Simon the healed? Simon the used to be leper. Simon, look at me now.

I'm feeling pretty great, huh? You see, because I don't think this is what Jesus calls him. I think he caused him, just his son, his friend. And so he is throwing a gratitude party, which, by the way, do you know what this is at all of our campuses, at Baker at Union, whether you're watching online, every time we gather together as believers in Jesus Christ, guess what's happening? This is Simon the Lefer's house. Just a whole bunch of people that used to be blind, that used to be lame, that used to be dead,

and then we met Jesus, and now we're different. And so when we get together, this ought to be a lot of. a big old gratitude party for who he is and what he's done. That's what's happening. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served. Of course she did. That's what she does. Bless her heart. Okay? She can't stop. She just served. Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. But you've got to think, it's a big week for last, right? He's just kicking it at the table. And I'm sure Martha's like, hey, can you give me a hand with the sweet tea? And he's like, Darling, can you just give me a break?

I was dead for four days. Now I'm alive. Can I just sit here with Jesus at the table? No problem. That's cool. And then Mary. Remember Mary? Last time we've heard from Mary, she runs out to Jesus.

She falls on her face. She cries, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. This Mary. Jesus weeps with her. This is Mary. Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure gnarred.

This comes from the Himalayas. It would be somewhere between like Pakistan and China is where this came from. Long way from Bethany. Very expensive. And she anointed the feet of Jesus. She wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. So folks, this is worship.

This is worship. Now, all three responses. of the siblings are highly appropriate. They really are. Sometimes Jesus impacts you and the way that you respond is you want to do something. You want to serve. Praise God for that. You should. And for some of you, and a lot of us, all of us are wired probably in one of these three ways, right? Some of you again, man, you get all worked up and you're like, what can I do? How can I sign up? How can I serve? Praise God. That's legit. And then some of you are like Lazarus, man. The way that you respond to the Lord is you just want to abide. Like when the Lord stirs in you.

you, you just want to get your Bible and a big cup of coffee and just spend an hour in Bible study, just reclining with him at the table. Praise God, man. And then there's some of you, man, some of you. And when the Lord stirs you up, you want to get out of the tambourine and the banner and just go all Pentecostal. Praise God for you too, all right. Just don't do it down front. You kind of make me nervous. But that's cool, no problem. Now, here's what I just want you to see, is that while all three of these are appropriate response, you. all three should be evident in the life of the believer. And if the abiding and the serving and the worshiping

aren't all there, something's wrong, man. Something is wrong. And I know you may be wired more one way than the other, but that does not give you an excuse when the Bible commands you, lift your hands and sing loudly in the sanctuary. It's a part of what we are called to do. It's a part of how Mary responds

I mean, because think about it, I don't know exactly how it went down. I don't know if Mary had planned this out, but when Jesus is in her home, and at some point she gets up, I guess she goes to her house, she comes back with the most valuable thing that she has. A pound of nard would be, it's what you would pay a day laborer for 300 days. Somewhere between, I don't know, $80,000 and $100,000 in today's currency. and she takes the thing that was most valuable to her. And she says, no, not anymore. He is most valuable to me. And so she doesn't care about the dinner party.

She just breaks this thing open. The Gospel of the Mark says she starts with her head and gets all the way to her feet, and she just pours out her gratitude on him. Church, you ever try to make somebody you love, love what you love? I mean, I try all the time. She's been trying to get Gretchen of Love Sweet Tea for 21 years. She don't like it.

I don't know what's wrong with her. She ain't perfect, okay? Try to get my kids to have the same love for C.S. Lewis literature that I do. Nope, they're not into it. Okay, maybe if they made a video game, they'd be into it. Try to get you people who love the dogs. Half of you or so are on board. The other half.

I don't know what's wrong with you. Okay, so. Now, all that's silly, for sure. It's silly. but the thing that keeps me up at night as your pastor is i want you to love jesus i mean love him like this kind of extravagant gratitude love like do you love him do you love him and one of the dangers with the church like ours with all of our campuses and this crazy attendance and all the people watching online and the multi-site megachurch you know and all the stuff you know and all the stuff you know and all the stuff you

we do with the great bands and that all the stuff is that you can just kind of get caught up in the crowd and you can just sort of attend church and not love Jesus. Do you love him? Do you know him? I don't want you to just come in here and sit and be entertained for a little while and then walk out and maybe try to adjust your lifestyle a little. That is not the point. The point is that you would have a, that you would discover and you would deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Psalm 42 says this, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you. And the evangelical church is jacked up verses like this. Why?

Because Christian bookstores made t-shirts with like a deer and a stream. And as even the song, as the deer panteth for the what? What? That's not how it goes, man. You know what this is talking about? You know why the deer's panting for it? water? Because something's trying to kill it. Somebody like me is chasing the deer trying to kill it to put it in one of our bathrooms. And the deer's running for his life. He's afraid. He's

running and running and running and he's parched and he's dehydrated and he's panting. Deer don't just pant from just walking around streams of water and he's just thinking if I could just get, I just need one little taste of water to quench my thirst so that I could keep going. My soul longs for you, God, like a deer on the run with somebody trying to kill him, longs for a drink of water. That I need, I need just one more encounter with Jesus to just make it through one more day. Do you long for him like that? That's what I'm talking about. I've told you before, I just, I can't get over the gospel.

I can't, I can't get over the gospel. And when we sing, how great thou art, the second verse says this, and when I think that God, his son not sparing, sent him to die. And then he pauses and he goes, I scarce can take it in. That's me. I scarce can't, my mind can't completely understand it. My heart can't contain it. God, I just, I can't even fully understand how you would send your son, Jesus,

to die on the cross for such a wretch like me. I don't understand why you would want to call me son. I don't understand all of my failures and faults and broken promises to you, and yet you would continuously lavish your love upon me. I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, our burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. It's the church. When we worship, is that how you worship?

Is that how you sing? Because let me tell you, the reason that we sing to him in here is because it is an act of just pouring out our lives to him, pouring out our worship and our devotion to him. Is that how you do it? Or do you just stand there like, huh, I guess they couldn't figure out what to do with that 22 minutes, so that's not what it's for. You see, I want the gospel of Jesus Christ to so well up in me that it overflows with tears and pouring out onto his feet, you were worthy, you were worthy, you were worthy.

I want to sing like a man who was dead and now is alive. That's what Mary's doing. My brother was dead, and now he's alive. I'm going to take everything I have and pour it on your feet. I want to sing like a man who's safe. I want to sing like a man who prayed for 30 years that God would save his dad, and then God brought him to life, praise God. What about you?

Do you know him? Do you know him? So when we close down our services, and we're not even close to that, so don't think you're getting out of here that early. And we sing? And I say, listen, the gospel demands a response. So when you sing, go for it, man, go for it. Seen like a saved person.

Seemed like somebody that was dead and is now alive. This past Monday, we were commissioning deacons. We commissioned 80-something deacons. It was incredible. And I was waiting on my part, and I'm sitting behind a guy who were commissioning as a deacon, the older guy. I think he grew up in church, super straight-laced. But God has just exploded his heart here through the ministry of 1122. and his wife told me when they first started coming he said hey I'm into it but I ain't raising

my hands I ain't ever raised my hands and listen I'm just going to tell you this I like the guy a lot he's a buddy of mine he's super funny super smart all of those things but he's not the most expressive human I've ever met my life in fact he's a urologist just think about that not too much but just the right amount think about his day every day and if you have to go see that kind of doctor You don't want to walk in and he'd be like, woo, you know, with his lab coat all jacked up in his hair. No, you want him like super butt like, yes, sir, you know, you want him tight. But on Monday, Pastor Ben Williams is up there leading worship. You were talking about I was dead and I'm alive.

And I'm telling you, my buddy, he's just two hands in the air giving it everything he has. That's what he's doing. Why? Because of who Jesus is and what he's done for him. That's what I'm talking about. And when we pray, why don't you abide? Why don't you all buy? What you do like Mary does?

Not just out of religious obligation tip God because we share somebody's got to pay the light bills. That's not what we're talking about, man. It is, I am so grateful that everything I have is from you. And just to demonstrate as an act of worship, the things of this world do not have a hold on me. But you and you alone do. So here you go.

That's what happens. And listen to me, when you do that, it changes the entire atmosphere. It just does, man. Think about the dinner party. There's Simon up front. I bet Simon is serving food. You know why? He's never been able to touch anybody's food.

You ever been to Israel? Everybody eats with their fingers, man. It's kind of weird. But he's like, here, you want some? And you want some. Why? Because every time he's doing that, everybody can say, sure, with your healthy hands, hand me some. and Mary is just at some point man she breaks the vessel and then the smell of gnar just

throughout the place and people are like oh what happened something is different here you see when believers in Jesus Christ pour out their worship on the feet of Jesus it just changes the atmosphere it just changes the atmosphere everybody has changed and so some people see him in worship, and then there's always haters. And haters are going to hate. That's what they do. But Judas, Escariot, one of the disciples, who was about to betray him, said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 in Arian given to the poor? You see, he's critical of how Mary is worshiping. He's not doing this right. Now pay attention to this. He's like a staff member. He's the treasurer. He's the C.S.

of Jesus Incorporated. And he is critical of how somebody else is worshiping. Let me just say it as bluntly as I can. The moment you find yourself criticizing how other people and how other churches choose to worship, you are on team Judas

and not team Jesus. Watch yourself. And I'm telling you, man. And everybody always paints an end up. Well, you know what we could do with that money for the poor? So look, Jesus addresses this. He said this,

not because he cared about the poor, John is addressing this. Judas said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Let me just ask you this. Are you a thief? Are you a thief? If everything we have is given to us by God, do you help yourself into the money bag of what belongs to him and say, you know what, that's for me? and then what he does, what religious people are really good at, is having a theologically sound argument of why it's okay for you to be a thief. Now, is Jesus pro-poor?

For sure. He's going to explain it in just a minute. But what's happening here, what's happening here? And what I want to warn us about. I'm talking to believers here, by the way. If you don't consider yourself a Christian, just welcome to a family meeting. And the reason I'm talking about this also is in reaction to the text, not what you people are doing.

As a church, you're the most generous church I've ever heard of in my whole life, okay? As a church, every single week, thousands of people just bring their first myth. Praise God, man, praise God. But what can happen to all of us, if we're not careful, man, is we can just get caught up in the machine

and we, like Judas, can become a consumer and not a worshipper. Because Judas was there to consume the goods and services of Jesus. and Mary was there to worship at the feet of Jesus. And so this is a warning for every single one of us. A consumer, it's all about me. A worshiper, it's all about Jesus.

A consumer rolls up and be like, I hope this church meets my needs. A worshiper says, I hope this church points me to the one who has met all my needs. That's the difference. A consumer comes in to say, is this a good band? And a worshiper is saying,

I just want some worship leaders that point me to a good, good father. A consumer is one that shows up because I'm looking for some entertaining preaching and I want it to make me laugh. But a worshiper says, I want some cross-centered preaching and I hope this sermon makes me different. That's what we're talking about. That a consumer says, I hope this is fun for the kids. And a worshiper says, I want to be a part of a fate family that helps equip me to disciple my kids. A consumer walks in and says, I just want to sit down and be comfortable.

and a worshipper shows up in a place that says, no, you get up and you go to the very ends of the earth and you take the gospel. Why, because it ain't about me. I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

And because he poured it all out at the cross, I want to pour out my worship on the feet of Jesus. Do you know him? Because I want you to know him. I want you to know him. I want you to know the power of his resurrection. That's different than just attending church. There's been some churchmen throughout history.

And they seem to live a life that looks like what Mary is doing here. Augustine says this. And by the way, outside of the Apostle Paul, probably the most influential Christian to ever live. Augustine says, how sweet all it once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys, which I had once feared to lose. You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy, you drove them from me and took their place,

you who are sweeter than all pleasure. What he's saying is, I was so afraid if I followed you, you'd take away the things I've liked, and what you did is you took them away, you replaced them with you, and you are better. Augustine would say that he would eat a good steak, and he'd be like, this is good, you are better. That's what that means.

Martin Luther says, oh, I wish to devote my mouth and my heart to you. Do not forsake me, for if I ever should be on my own, I would easily wreck it all. What does it look like for you to devote your heart and your mouth to him? Spurgeon. He says, I thank thee that this, which is a necessity of my new life, is also its greatest delight. So I do at this hour feast on thee. The Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good. Do you see how that's different than just going to church sometime?

John Owen, a Puritan pastor, said this, O, to behold, the glory of Christ, herein would I live, herein would I die, herein would I dwell in my thoughts and my affections, until all things below become unto me a dead and deformed thing, no way suitable for affectionate embraces. Is that how you live? and all of us have a tendency to get stuck in a rut of just going to church and we forget that he is the one thing that drives everything. Do you see how that is different than?

Yeah, I think I'll go to church again this week. This is what I want for you. I want you to know him. I want you to love him. Brother Lawrence, who was a 16th century monk, he wrote a book called The Practice of Presence. He says, I have at times had such delicious thoughts on the Lord. I am ashamed to mention them. That might be too far.

That's kind of a weird thing to say. But he's talking about an intimacy that's different than just showing up, sitting a seat, going home, don't do anything, right? This is what Mary's doing. She's pouring out this ointment on him. Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and she anoints the feet of Jesus. Judas looks at that in black.

She's not doing it right. She's not, we should sell this and give it to the poor. And Jesus says, verse seven, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. Here's a part of what Jesus is saying. She's not just worshipping me for what I did, raising her brother. She's also worshipping me for who I am. Apparently, Mary and Martha have a discussion from the earlier in the chapter where Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the resurrection in the life. And what she understands is that he is going to live this perfect life. He's going to die on the cross in her place. When he says it is finished, somehow that counts for her, and she is preparing his body for death, burial, and then one day resurrection. And then Jesus, to Judas's commentary, says, for the poor you always have with you,

but you do not always have me. Now pay attention to this part. What he's saying, now is Jesus pro-poor? 100%. Matthew 25, the final exam is this. Everybody's in front of Jesus. and to know if we know him, he looks at the sheep on the right and says, well done, well done. Enter into the joy of my father. Because when I was in prison, you visited me. And when I was hungry,

you gave me something to eat. And I was a single mom, you helped me out. And they go, when? When? When do we see you in prison? When do we see you thirsty? And he says, whatever you've done for the least of these, you've done unto me. That's how I know that you know me. Enter into the joy of my father. And then to the, the goats on the left. He says, they're going to heaven, you ain't going. And they're like, why? We went to church. He's like, yeah, yeah. But when I was in prison, you didn't visit me. When I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat. When I was naked, you gave me no clothes. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we never saw you Jesus that way. And he says, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me. And then here's the most important part,

depart from me for I never knew you. People that no one love Jesus, they love people. That's what that means. Now, in every generation of the church, there can become a danger. While Jesus is for sure pro taking care of the poor, worship is priority. And he will not allow anything, including serving the poor, to be the end. Worship is the end, and everything else is a means to an end. And in many, many, many churches, people take activities as a result of the gospel and they begin to elevate them as the gospel itself. And Jesus says, don't you ever do that? That he is the only one worthy of our worship. And all the things that we do because of Christ are to worship him. This is what he's saying here. Pastor Adam gave me a new set of commentaries. I'm just going to read this part because

I can't say it any better and I don't want to pretend like I made it up myself. Here's what these new commentaries I have said. Judas loved money more than Jesus. But money is not God. Money is not alive. Money cannot raise the dead. Money cannot love you back. Money is meant to represent value. It is currency.

We gain money for what we provide or how we serve. And then we exchange the reward that we gain by our ingenuity or effort for things we need or want. Money will not shepherd us. Money will not teach us the truth. Money will not give itself in our place. Money is not at the right hand of God interceding for us. Money will not give us its righteousness so that we are justified before God. Mary understood this.

Judas did not. Money is a means to an end, and Jesus is the only end worthy of our worship. That's what's happening at the dinner table. So let me ask you, do your worship. And if you're like, well, I'm not that into it. Well, are you into Jesus? I'm serious, man. I'm serious.

Because if there are not times where this stirs up in you, you seriously need to check your heart. Has it been overwhelmed by the grace train of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And then here's what happens. When the large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus. Bethany's a little town who don't want to see a dead guy

back to life, that's what they came to see, who had been raised from the dead. And so the chief priest made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. We have an enemy. There are three things he wants to destroy, He wants to destroy the Word of God.

Remember the first thing he said to Adam and Eve? Did God really say? It's the same thing he does that Jesus is in his temptation. He wants to destroy the Word of God. He also wants to destroy the work of God. Lazarus is the handiwork of Jesus. So the enemy wants to take him out. If you have put your faith in Jesus,

you are the handiwork of Jesus. This is why the enemy wants to take you out. And the enemy wants to destroy the word. worship of God. He wants to destroy the Word of God and the work of God and the worship of God. So let me tell you who the enemy is just fine with. If you are saved, if you're a believer in Jesus, the enemy can't do anything about your eternity. And he is totally fine with you just showing up, sitting in the church, responding in no way at all and just thinking you're doing just fine. You were just fine with him. But worship is warfare against the enemy and he hates it. He doesn't want it at all.

And so he wants to destroy these things. And the heart of worship is gratitude for who Jesus is and what he's done. That's what it is. Worship is a gratitude party, man, for who he is, the resurrection in the life. And what he's done in our life and the lives of those around us. And so, listen, I've told you before, man, the way we end the service, I think it's the most important thing. because it's our response to the gospel. And I think we should do all three

of what the three siblings at the table did. I think we should serve, like Martha served. The Lord stirs you up and you should do something about it. You should serve the bride. You should do whatever he tells you to do. And I think that we should recline with Jesus at the table. So like in just a minute when I say we sing and we bring and we pray, I would love for you.

Why don't you just come down here and recline at the table? table with Jesus, and I know, theologically speaking, that Jesus is just as present with you in the farthest seat away as he is down here, but there's something about changing the posture of your body to humble yourself before the Lord and say, here I am, Jesus, I just want to be with you. And then, today, right now, I want us to, I want us to respond like Mary. I do. I want us to just take whatever the most valuable thing is and you just pour it out on his feet because that's what he wants that's what he wants if you remember when jesus has this conversation with a samaritan woman at the well you remember what he says there she's like hey i don't you know your people say we've got to worship

this mountain my people say it's that mountain where we're supposed to worship and jesus says god is looking for worshippers who will worship him in spirit and truth there's not a style of worship he's looking for there's a heart of a worshipper that he wants and so why don't you just come and pour it out and sing like he saved you and bring like whatever that thing is if there's some thing in your life and it's just too valuable for you than what you ought to do is come lay it at the feet of Jesus and you come and you bring all to him you bring all of your hopes and dreams and desires and all of your sin and all of your condemnation and you just bring it all to his feet and you pour it out on the feet of Jesus that's why I want you to pour your heart out to him

really, really pour your heart out to him. And if you've never raised your hands before, I dare you. And if you're like, well, it makes me uncomfortable. Okay, cool. I hope you're uncomfortable. Jesus went through some serious discomfort to tear the curtain between the presence of God and the people of God so that we could do what the word says and lift our hands in the sanctuary and say, I surrender, I surrender, I surrender.

And listen, man, and if you say, man, you kind of into this, you think? We used to sing this song a lot called Oh, How He Loves. There's a line in it that got everybody all messed up. And it says this, when heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss. All right. So I run in the kind of the young, restless, and reform camp. I don't know they young anymore, but, you know, that's my crew, all right? And they're real proud of how theological accurate they are.

which doctrine matters like crazy. And I'd go to conferences and I'd speak and other pastors of churches that we partner with and be like, you all sing sloppy wet kiss? And I'm like, oh, yeah, we sing sloppy wet kiss. And they're like, oh, I can't. What would Spurgeon think?

I'm going to give a, I don't care about Spurgeon. The only way I know to explain it is this. Husbands, married guys. Why'd you marry a wife? Why? Did you just assess the situation and be like, yeah, I should probably lock this down because I won't be able to get this later

and it's a covenant so she stuck. Is that it? Did you look at her and be like, she looks like she could carry on my gene pool just fine? I don't know about you, man. What I met Gretchen? G. Nisely was her maiden name. G. Nice is what I call her.

That'd be a rap name. She can't rap, but if she did, G. Nice. I think it's cool. I would just get around her, and I don't know how to explain it. I had dated people before, but this was just different, man. This was just different at the heart level

that I got all stirred up. and I wasn't thinking about the economics of it. I couldn't afford it. I wasn't thinking about the vat. I was just thinking this. I want to be with you for as many years as the Lord will give me. That's it. That I love you.

And now 21 years into it, I'm telling you, still 21 years into it, it's more now than it was then. I'll sit down with her and try to look at her on the couch and just try to tell her how much I love her. And I get all choked up and start crying, and my kids are like, damn, what is wrong with you? I mean, you shut your face. Moments like this is the reason you exist.

Get out of here, all right? I'm telling you, it's not just, I'm not checking something off a list. I love that girl, and so I pour out my love. And when Mary worships Jesus, there's nothing romantic there, but it is very passionate. And the church is the bride of Christ, and our groom gave his life for us, and he's coming back to take us home. And so when we worship, we should worship like that. That when heaven meets earth, it's a sloppy wet kiss. So people changed it to unforeseen kiss.

That sounds creepy. Heaven, oh, stop, stop, what are you doing? I didn't ask for that. That's not inappropriate, okay? That heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss. God loves you, and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about his love for us. That's what I'm talking about.

Do you know him? Do you know? I want you to know him. And if you know him, I want you to pour out your heart. I want you to pour out your soul. And we're going to respond to the gospel. He deserves it. And the gospel demands it.

And I want you to bring. I want you to bring everything. People ask me, how much should I give to the Lord? Everything. All of your sin, all of your condemnation, all of your selfishness, all of your flesh. Why don't you just come and lay it all down at his altar? And we're going to pray. And want you to pray like it matters, because the king of the universe who loves you with a lavish love says,

come on, whatever's going on in your world. Bring it to me because I love you so much. And we're going to sing. And we're going to sing in a way. Hopefully, I want you to sing like save people. I want you to sing like you were dead. You were dead. And he brought you out of the grave.

I want us to join our voices together. And I want our hearts to turn violently inside of our chest. And if it takes you a little minute to warm up, then just start with your body and you watch your heart follow it. And I just want you to pour out. I want us all to pour out our worship on him because he is worthy of it. At all of our locations, would you please stand? I'm going to pray, and then we're going to respond. Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, you're good and you're gracious.

And we thank you when we praise you for that, God. And would you forgive us when we take the gospel for granted? When we show up to your church, your gathering of a gratitude party, and we act like critics and consumers instead of worshippers. God, would you just overwhelm us with your grace? And Lord, in a world where there's a million things trying to tear us away from you and take our eyes off you, would you help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith? And may the things of this world just become strangely dim, dead and grotesque.

And we know they are not worthy of our worship. And Lord, for those who have been walking with you for a minute and growing a little old and stale with the Spirit of God that brought Jesus out of the grave, breathe new life into the hearts and souls of your redeemed to make much of you because we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, and we can love you because you first loved us. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Church, we respond. We pray, we bring, we sing. Let's go.