The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 7: Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet

Episode Date: May 21, 2023

The heart of worship is gratitude for who Jesus is and what He has done for us. 

Amen and amen. Church, you're going to be really good at this. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Listen, that video was very personal for me and my family. We were with Pastor Ben when he went down with that seizure early that Thursday morning. And then he went to that doctor in Orlando and got this awful diagnosis. They actually said at this point right now he would be in hospice. That's the first thing that we heard from them.

And then I got in the car, drove here for 722, and the people of God got together. and prayed and prayed and prayed. And God is the ultimate physician, right? So all healing comes through him, whether it's through people or prayers or pills, whatever. He don't care. All glory goes to him. And now, as evidenced by the video,

Pastor Bean is not in hospice. You know where he is right now? He's at the Atlantic Ocean waiting on you to get there so he can baptize over the Atlanta of 100 people. Praise God. He was at the 9 o'clock service. So what we're going to talk about today in our time together is what is our right response to the lavish love,

the extravagant grace of God. If you got your Bibles, we're going to be in John Chapter 11. And we're not going to particularly study any miracle, though we've been in this study on miracles, and that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. What we're really going to spend our time on is what is the proper response to the miraculous work of God?

And if anything, we need to respond rightly today because we have over 1,100 people signed up to get baptized today. Amen? So the party starts now, and it's going to continue. to the beat. So the right response to the miraculous work of God is worship. It's extravagant worship. It's a heart of gratitude. It's a position, a posture of gratitude. Because every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. And we live in a world that shoves us towards entitlement. Gratitude is the kind of posture of the heart that says, how could you

save a wretch like me? That's gratitude. Entitlement is, how dare you not give me what I deserve. It's different, man. And so what we're going to look at is in, we'll pick it up in John chapter 11. We'll start in verse 45. That's where we left off last week. And we're going to see how Mary and Martha and Lazarus respond to the miraculous work of God in their lives. Starts out this way.

Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did. And what he did, just in case you weren't here last week, is he brought Lazarus out of the grave. Lazarus was dead. He'd been in the tomb for four days. Jesus walks up to the tomb. This is not on my watch. Lazarus come forth. And Lazarus, a dead man, comes back to life.

He comes hopping out of the tomb with his burial cloths on. That's what they're talking about. And so they had seen what he did and they believed in him. Why? Because seeing this believing. So they see a man who claims to be God, tell him dead man, you can't be dead anymore, come out of the grave, and they see and they believe. But then there's another group of people.

and they see the exact same thing. They have the exact same experience. They have all the same evidence. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. This is unbelievable to me. That some people see this and want to go tell it on a mountain

and some people see it and they want to go tattle to the religious leaders. Like these people are going to grow up and be hall monitors, you know what I'm saying? Presidents of their HOA. That's what they're going to do. The guys from my HOA actually go to church They love that when I do that.

It's unbelievable that people can experience the same thing, see the same thing, have all the same evidence, and respond in profoundly different ways. I see it every single weekend when I'm up here preaching. Sometimes I would just be slinging fire, man, preaching my face off. And there'll be one group of people, and you'll be into it, like, mm, gold pastor, and you're like tweeting stuff and quoting it. And you're like, amen. You know, I got amen for a praying.

Praise God, God, help me out. And they're into it. And then from the same pool of people, Monday I get an email. I'm like, I was so offended. Well, that's neat. You know, being offended is your choice, right? I just want you to say that. I just want you to know that.

In 1st Corinthians 13 says love is not easily offended, but just, you know, pray about that, if you will. That people can be sitting in the same environment and have polar opposite experiences. So some people go tell the world, Jesus is who he says he is, and another group of people go tattle on him to the religious leaders. Verse 47, so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council. and said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs. You see, this is what religious people do.

Man-made religions forms committees to vote on whether God can do what he's already been doing. You realize that? These people ought to be throwing a party and they're throwing a fit because Jesus does not fit into their religious construct. That's what's happening here.

And then, John gives us a little bit of commentary and we get to the heart of what is driving these religious people. verse 48 says this 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

they're not trying to take care of the people of God they're trying to take care of themselves they're not trying to serve the people of God they're trying to use God's people to serve themselves and they don't even care if Rome is in charge of Jerusalem because they've worked out of this little quid pro quo if y'all leave us alone we'll leave you alone but we get to be in charge

This is what man-made religion is all about. Man-made religion is all about me and control, but a foundation of a relationship with Jesus Christ is about Jesus and freedom. That's just how it goes. And so what they do here is they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody stop what you're doing. We're the one with the fancy titles.

We're the one with the fancy hats. You can't talk to God. We'll talk to God, and we will tell you what he says you can and cannot do. It is all about control. and fear. That's what it's all about. But Jesus is all about faith and freedom. Then it says, but one of them,

Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, by the way, not a Jesus fan, you'll find out later in the Gospel of John. He says to them, 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. And he's right.

He doesn't even know he's right. He's speaking politically, but he's actually theologically correct. He doesn't even realize that he's talking about the substitutionary atonement that Jesus is going to come

and take all of our sin upon himself and die in our place. The crazy thing about this is that Caiaphas thinks he's in control. He's the high priest, he gets to lay down the rules, he thinks he's the star of the show, and little does he know

that he's going to be a footnote in the greatest story ever told God's redemptive purpose for his people. How many of you know that no matter who the leader is, that God is sovereign over all things. And they are, but, they are, but, but, but, but, but, but the cast of God's redemptive story for his own good. Verse 51, and 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 for the nation only, but also to

gather into one, the children of God who are scattered abroad. You know what he's talking about here? Jacksonville. It's not the only thing he's talking about. It's also Uganda and Antarctica and all the other places, but we are included in this. And what he's saying is true, even though he doesn't know what he's talking about. How many of you know that God can use crooked sticks to draw straight lines? Or the Dillon Book of Proverbs says this way. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while. Amen?

So from that day on, so from the day that Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, from that day on, you would think he would say they worshipped him. But that's not what it says. From that day on, they made plans to put him to death. Why? Because if he keeps doing this, people are going to follow him, and we're going to lose ours. Now, listen, as Bible study people, you look at this and you go, who would respond

to Jesus that way? Who would look at Jesus and see his life, his death, his resurrection, his promise return, and look at him and think, if he keeps going, he's going to take what's mind. Let me tell you who can think that way. You ready for this? It's the person sitting next to you. Now, I know it's not you because you're fully surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and you stand righteous before a holy God. Good for you. You know what? It's that nine o'clock service. Those nine o'clock service people? Did you know that they can walk in this place? You're not going to believe this. They can walk in this place, not surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, but walk in with

their own agenda that is the same agenda as that of the Pharisees. Then is he going to take what's mine? Is he going to take what I am in control of? And here's where I see it come up all the time, man, all the time. You let me start talking about money, and you should see the faces across this sea of people. I mean, everybody's all having a good time, just singing joy from the house of the Lord. And then we bring up the issue of money and bringing to God first and pest. And you can see people look like they've been weaned on a pickle man. They're like, uh-oh, here it comes. Get real nervous. See how nervous you are right now? In fact, you apologize to you're one. We're like, I'm so sorry, this is a money talk.

I'll bring you next week. It'll be better next week, I promise. Because what you think is, and I've heard that sometimes, people will say, listen, I've been to church, but all they want you money. Sounds like all you want your money. Like if you're a believer in Jesus, you know that everything we have is a blood-bought grace gift from God and that we are but stewards for a little while, and we are supposed to bring to him our first and our best, but there's a whole bunch of people that are cool with Jesus

keeping you out of hell as long as you can keep him out of your bank account. See how you can come in and say, well, whoa, whoa, boy, you can have this part, but not this. Or it could be your freedom. You walk in here, like, hey man, I'm cool with the Jesus thing as long as I get to make decisions for me. You can.

You can make all the decisions for you. You can do whatever you want to do. He's just not your Lord. I mean, by definition, if you are in charge of all of your life, then you are Lord of your life. And what it means to be a Jesus follower is to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. or there's a whole bunch of people,

and they want Jesus on their side. They just don't want to turn over their worldview. They're like, hey, if I get into this Jesus thing, man, I mean, I'm four or not going to hell, okay? Who wants to go there? I'm for not going to hell. But I've heard what the church believes about money and sex and marriage and gender and all these things,

and I don't know if I can believe in that old book. It ain't an old book. It's a timeless book because it's the Word of God. And when you just surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, you're saying, I think the author of life knows better how to run this life than I do. You see, we can be real critical of the Pharisees and then walk into church like them.

And so, what do you do? Let me ask you this. Is he your Lord? Is he your Lord? Because the reality is that we are to bring him everything, everything, all of our pain, all of our problems. We are to bring him all of our anxieties, all of our fears, all of our condemnation,

and all of our hopes and all of our dreams and all of our wishes, all of those kind of things, and we lay them down at the feet of Jesus Christ, and then what we realize in this unbelievable exchange is that as we lay down our life for Christ, we actually find life, and what he offers to us is greater than anything we could ever dream up or imagine on our own.

This is what it means, and I know you're not that excited about it. That's why I've got to preach for the other 40 minutes, okay? So here's a group of people, and they're thinking about me and mine and control. You see, on this spectrum, they are pegged over here on the entitlement. Verse 54, and Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, because they're trying to kill him. But he went from there to a region near the wilderness to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with his disciples. He's found a safe house.

He's laying low. Now, verse 55. The Passover of the Jews was at hand. This is the third time in the Gospel of John that we've heard the Passover. This is how we kind of know Jesus did ministry for about three, three and a half years. And many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another

as they stood in the temple. What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all. Now the chief priest and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let him know so that they might arrest him. Chapter 12, verse 1, six days before the Passover. You see, the reason that they know

that he's going to show up at the Passover is it was his feast. It was a really, really big deal. It's one of the high holy days in the Israel's calendar. And it points all the way back to the book of Exodus that God's people was a slave nation under the thumb of Pharaoh. And God's people, the Israelites, cry out to God. And the Bible says that God hears the cry of his people.

And so he sends a deliverer, a very unlikely hero named Moses. Because Moses' track record isn't too good. Even though Moses grew up in Pharaoh's household, when he was a little bit older, he sees an Egyptian guy attacking a Jewish guy and he kills the Egyptian and tries to cover him up like kitty litter, but they figure him out.

And so they know when he gets, he knows that he's busted, and so he goes on the run. And he thinks he is disqualified from being used by God for the rest of his life. And so he goes out to this kind of random place and he meets his wife and he starts working for his father-in-law.

He works for his father-in-law for 40 years. You want to talk about a miserable existence. Imagine that for a first thing. and I love my father and all, but anyway. And one day, while he's like tending sheep, because he thinks it's over, man, that was not a classy job back in the day. One day he's tending sheep,

and he sees this bush that's on fire, but it's not getting burnt up, and he goes over to check it out, and God Almighty speaks to him through the burning bush. Moses, take off your shoes because you're on holy ground. And then he gives him this. He says, listen, I've heard the cry of my people, and I'm going to send you to Pharaoh,

and you're going to go eyeball to eyeball with Pharaoh, and what you thought was punishment was actually preparation. You see, you grew up in Pharaoh's house, so you know the garage code, and you know how to get into the palace and how it works there, and I'm going to use you to deliver my people from the hand of the Pharaoh. And Moses looks at himself. He's like, I can't do this.

And God's like, of course you can't do this, but don't worry about it, bro. I am with you. And so then he says, who should I say sit me? And he gives him his covenant name. And he says, you let him know that I am that I am has come before Pharaoh Yahweh says, let my people go. So Moses shows up. And he says, I'm here on behalf of the one true God.

I know you think you were God, but you're about to see who God is. Let my people go. And Pharaoh's like, you're out your mind, man. I ain't letting nobody go. And so God sends ten plagues in a row. And every single one of the plagues was to squish every one of the Egyptian gods that they worship. It's like the undercard at UFC. And it's like the Nat God and the Locust God and the River God and the sun God.

and he goes through all of these. And then the tenth plague is called the plague of the firstborn. And this one is aimed at Pharaoh, because Pharaoh thought he was God. And Moses is like going, my God's bigger than your God. You're about to find out. And so God tells Moses, to go tell the Israelite people,

go get a perfect spotless lamb, shed the blood of the lamb, put it on the doorpost of your house. Because tonight there's an angel of death that's going to come through Egypt. And whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house, the angel of death will pass over.

That's why it's called the Passover. But whoever does not have the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of house, the firstborn will be taken. And he says, so listen, so tonight when you go to bed, you don't have time to let the bread rise to just make pita bread and sleep with your tennis shoes on because tomorrow, Pharaoh is going to say, get out of here.

Sure enough, they shed the blood of the lamb, they put it on the doorpost, the angel of death comes. There is terror all throughout Egypt, and Pharaoh says, get out of here. And so they get up and they go, and they go towards the Red Sea, and then God opens it up and then they make their way to freedom. Six days before this Passover,

Jesus is going to show up in Jerusalem. If you were to keep reading to John chapter 13, what you would find out is what Jesus is saying at the last supper, at communion is he takes that bread and he breaks it and he goes, this is my body. He takes that wine and he says, this is my blood. This Passover feast that you guys have been celebrating since Moses was around, it wasn't just about an Exodus back in the book of Exodus,

It was about me coming to set you free because whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their heart, then the day that the angel of death comes by to judge you, he will pass over and you will be delivered from death to life. He's like, don't you remember what John, my cousin said, behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. If you'll remember to the very first miracle, when Jesus turns water to wine and Mary comes to Jesus in John chapter 2 and says, son, they're out of wine. And then he says this verse that you can ever quote to your wife, woman, what does this have, to do with me. And then he says this, my hour has not yet come. This is what he's talking about. Because he is the Passover lamb. He is lining up his death with Passover so that everyone would know that he is the lamb who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. And so six days

before the Passover. Jesus therefore came to Bethany. It's about two miles outside of Jerusalem. Where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead. This is what we talked about, last week. By the way, let me check on one little piece of homework from last week. I know you didn't know what's going to check on you. And I can tell about your face, you don't even know what I was talking about. Remember last week, Martha's having a conversation with Jesus, and he says to her, do you believe? She says, I believe. And he goes, we'll see. Then they're standing in front of the tomb, and he says, roll that stone away. And she says, but Lord, it stinks. And I said, what stone is God asking you to roll away? Did you do it? Did you do it? Or did you let fear

win again. Because I know you were pumped up and you believed when you were in here, when you walked out of here, did you let the faith overcome your fear or your fear overcome your faith? Well, for some of you was to get baptized. And you walked by the class and you went, I'm not going. Well, it's not too late for you. Maybe the stone that God is calling you to roll away is to go public with your faith. And when we get done in here, you can just get baptized in what you're in. I don't care. And you just, you hustle and you get to Hannah Park and we will dunk you there. Amen? All right. So, he shows up in Bethany. And I love this.

Verse two. And so they gave a dinner for him there. We find out in the book of Mark and the book of Matthew that the place that they are meeting for the dinner is called Simon the Leper's House. Simon the Leopard's house. Well, here's the thing, man. You can't eat dinner with a leper. Because if you were to eat with somebody with leprosy, then you are unclean whether you

catch leprosy or not. So what Mark and what Matthew are inferring here is that Simon, used to have leprosy. But apparently he met Jesus, and now he didn't have leprosy anymore. And so he hears Jesus is in town, and you know what he does? He goes, we need it to throw a gratitude party. We need, I'm grateful because I used to have leprosy. Now I'm at Jesus, and now I don't.

Who should I invite? Ooh, I know. Lazarus used to be dead, and now he's alive. He probably reached out. Lazarus, you want to come to my gratitude party? Are you free? Lazar's like, bro, I didn't even expect to be here. My calendar is wide open, what you want to do?

And so they show up to the gratitude party. By the way, in the church, shouldn't the church just be Simon the leper's house? Like every single week, we gather together because every single one of us who believe in Jesus used to be dead, now we're alive, we used to be lame, and now we walk, we used to be blind, and now we see. And what we do is we don't just show up here to get little life lessons on how to be better people. We get up here to pour out our gratitude to the one who has poured out his lavish love on us. Amen? Now, I do have one problem, though. Well, I got a bunch of problems, but here's one of my problems with humans.

Why do they call him Simon the leper? He's not a leper anymore. Isn't it unbelievable have human beings have a tendency to label people by the thing that they used to do? Aren't you glad God doesn't call you by that? Hey, what's up? Susan, the arrogant. Be like, what? Hold on.

Right? Tim, the attic? No, no, no, no, man. Why don't they call him Simon that used to be leper? Simon the healed Simon the hole Simon the feeling pretty good Look at me now

This guy is so transformed He's never been able to host a party In his life And now for the very first time He can invite the community over And everybody shows up And I believe that he probably served the food Because he could never touch anybody's food before

And if you ever go to Israel with me Not a lot of forks, man, it's just kind of hand the mouth And so bro he gets to hand out everybody's food And everybody's like cool Because Jesus made you whole So there's this gratitude party happening. And here's what everybody does.

Martha served. Of course she does. That's what she does, man. Some of you are wired that way. Whenever there's an event, you serve. To all of you serve, staff, we couldn't do this gratitude party every single weekend without you.

We need you. So Martha serves. And Lazarus was one of those reclining with Jesus at the table. And I can imagine Martha goes up to Lazarus. He's like, hey, Las, can you help me hand out the sweet tea? And Lazarus is like, come on, sis. was dead for four days. Can I just sit here with the Lord, please? And then verse three, this is really

what the sermon's all about. And Mary, therefore, remember the last time we hear from Mary, Mary has fallen at the feet of Jesus. She's crying on the feet of Jesus, and she says, Jesus, if you would have been here, my brother would be alive. And then Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave. And so look what she does. Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard. This is like from the Himalais. somewhere between Pakistan and China. It would cost about, in our economy, like $80,000. And anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Listen, this is worship. Actually, all three responses are worship. All three of the responses of the siblings is legitimate worship. And you're probably wired towards one of the three, but as a follower of Jesus, all three should be evident in your life. Some of you encounter the living God

and your instinct is to serve. Thank you. And if you're not serving, you should be serving. You should be serving the local church. You'll be serving your local community and we should travel to the ends of the earth and serve everywhere we get an opportunity. Some of you, some of your natural instinct

to the presence of God is to abide. You're like Lazarus, man. You just want to recline with Jesus at the table. No problem. The way that looks for a lot of us is you get up early in the morning, you get a big old Bible, a big cup of coffee, and you just lean into his word and he leans into you. Listen, that's legit, man.

That is super legit. I mean, just a minute ago, my daughter, she's 13, 7th grade, right there. And we're singing whatever song we were. And I just reach over, put my arm around her, and she just puts her head on my shoulder. Now, look, man, I'm a grown man. I get people say thank you to me all the time. I'd pay a million dollars for that.

13. You heard that 13. I thought, what is happening? Don't move. You're going to scare it away. Right? Okay. So, also over $5.

If I bring her up in a sermon, I'll over $5. So there you go, darling. I'll give me $5 for you know. I'm a capitalist. Let's go. But here's the thing, man. If my little daughter can move my crooked heart, then how much more does the Heavenly Father love it

when we just lean in to him. It's a legit response to abide. And then some of us are wired to worship. Because the moment I start talking about it gradually at worship, especially you're like, here we go. You start unrolling your flag. Okay, man, that's cool.

Praise God for you. We love that. Just do it back in the corner because it throws me off, okay? I don't want to look at you. I want to look at the Lord. So this is what's happening here. But here's the thing, man. Mary looks at this situation.

her sister's working, brother's chilling, and she thinks he's here, he's in my presence. And she gets up and she goes through her stuff and she gets the most valuable thing that she has. And she just breaks it and pours it out on the feet of Jesus. She doesn't care what everybody thinks. She pours it out on the feet of Jesus. She begins to wipe his feet where their hair, Jewish women weren't supposed to let their hair down in public. and she doesn't care what everybody thinks. She wants him to know that she treasures him

above any treasure that she has on this planet. And what she is doing there is she is just loving Jesus. Listen, man, as your pastor, that's what I want for you. And I don't know how to make you want it. I don't. You ever try to get somebody to love something that you love, but you can't make them love it?

You ever do that? I'm just trying to get aggression to love, for 23 years. She don't like it. I don't know what's wrong with her. It's a grew up in Virginia. They're like half a Yankee. You know what I mean? They can't help it. Try to get my children to love literature from C.S. Lewis. They don't, they're not into it. Not that much. Maybe if they made it into a video game. Maybe they'd like it, okay? Try to get you people to love the Georgia Bulldogs. And so, I don't know why you wouldn't. We're going to win again. But some of you're into it, most of you aren't. All right, whatever. And all that stuff's stupid.

I mean, silly. But each and every week, I just want you to love Jesus. I mean, love him, know him, experience him. Not just to attend church. It could be dangerous coming to 1122. You know why? Because everything's so good. I mean, we've got a campus everywhere. We're going to put a campus on Mars one day.

Every person in Jacksonville is going to be able to walk to their own campus. Make it so convenient. And everything's so good, you drop your kids off and it's all good, everything's good. And, you know, all the teachers are good. Everything's great. You show on the music. music is just off the charts good. I can't tell you the number of times you hear a song here first

and then you hear the actual person that wrote it singing on the radio and you're like, that guy's not that good. You see, here are people. I get it, man. And I know the sermons aren't that good. I know they're moderately delivered and exceptionally received, but even if you don't believe what I believe, you at least think, well, get bored in here while I'm talking.

And here's what's dangerous, man. Church makes a terrible hobby. If you're just going to show up and kind of attend casually when it's convenient to you and then just sort of dutifully and casually attend, just sort of check that pops, yep, did that. You know the Christian that the enemy has no problem with? The casual church attender.

Now, he can't do anything about your salvation, okay? People ask me, can you lose your salvation? No, you can't lose it? It's not like car keys. The key question is, can God lose one of his children? The answer is no. But the casual apathetic church attender that just shows up,

of sometimes and doesn't really get into it and just got your hand in your pocket and your face like a mannequin. The enemy's like, all right, let's just keep them right where they are. Because you've been pacified by the American dream. It says, shh, shh, just be comfortable. God didn't save us to be comfortable, man. This is not what a deepening relationship with Jesus is. It's not how the Bible talks about our walk with God. Do you realize this? Here's an example. Psalm 42 starts out this way. as the deer pants for streams of flowing water, so my soul longs for you.

Do you long for him? And then the American evangelical church has screwed up verses like this. You know why? You're going to the Bible bookstore, and then there's a poster with that verse on it, or a T-shirt, maybe even worse. As the deer pants for water,

so my soul longs for you. And there's a picture of a deer, like an eight-pointer with a kicker, just standing by a stream. or this song As the deer punteth for the water No! Two things you don't know if that's how you sing that song.

You don't know deer and you don't know the Bible. Do you understand? In the context of what David is talking about, there are people that are trying to kill him and he's on the run, like staying in caves and on the run thinking he's going to die. And in that moment of desperation, he writes down it's like a deer who's being chased by somebody like me who's trying to kill him and put their head in the men's room.

That's what's happening. And so he's running and he's running and he's running and he feels like he's going to die. And like a deer that just needs one more little drink of water to get him through one more day, David is saying, oh, my soul longs for a taste of you, God, so that you can get me through one more day. Do you long for him? That's what we're talking about. See how that's different than tepid applause and Christian karaoke? That's not what we're talking about, man.

I mean, listen, I tell you, I cannot get over the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know how you know him and then just casually show up in his presence because I can't get over the gospel. And what I mean is, if I spend a little bit of time just thinking and talking about that he saved me, that he sent his son to die for me, you know who the worst Christian you know is or the best sinner you know is, it's you. because you know of all your sin. I only know the ones you put on Facebook, dummies. You know them all. You know the intentions. You know the lustful thoughts.

You know the critical heart. And yet he would look at you and not despise you, but he would look at you and go to the cross to purges you. I can't get my mind around it, man. It's like when we sing that song, 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 makes a parenthetical statement, I scarce can take it in.

When I think about Jesus hanging on the cross in my placement, I can't get my mind around it, my heart won't contain it, my emotions cannot understand this, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my son. then sings my soul. See how that's different? Just casual church attendance? You know how at the end of our services when I say this is how we respond?

And we're not even close to that point of the service yet, so don't get your hopes up, okay? A lot of what we do comes right out of this text. We bring our first and our best. We go get our first and our best, the most valuable thing we have. And we're not just tipping God because obviously you've got to pay the light bill.

That's not what we're talking about here. We're like, Jesus, you poured it all out for me. I'm going to pour out my first and best on your feet as an act of worship every single week. And I'm also going to declare this world doesn't have a grip on me. That I'm going to love you and use money, not love money and use you. And we pray. We pray whether it's like Martha sending the note to Jesus. Jesus, we need your help.

My brother's sick. And whether there's that kind of prayer or if it's a prayer of gratitude like Lazarus, just reclining with Jesus at the table going, I just want to be close to you. And we sing. And we sing like save people. We sing like people that used to be dead and now we're alive. We sing like people that had one of their best friends with a brain tumor and you pray for his healing and he heals him.

And you sing like somebody that prayed for 30 years that God would save his dad. And he did. And so when we sing, man, we go for it. We lift our hands in the sanctuary and we make much of him because he deserves it. Listen, man. God's into it. commands us, he commands us to worship him. And when your, when your heart's affection have been set on him, when you've tasted and seen that he's good, then the natural response is

extravagant gratitude towards it, regardless of how you were raised and regardless of your personality type and how you were wired. The first thing that Pastor Ben led in worship when he came out of his surgery, it's about two years ago, we were doing a deacon commissioning in a room right over here. And I'm in the back, and we're commissioning like 80 deacons or something like that. And I know one of the guys being commissioned. Good dude, man. Older guy, I think he grew up, I think he grew up Episcopalian or something like that. And when he started coming to this church, he told his wife, he's like, I dig it. And the music's good, and I'm into the sermons, but I'm never listening my hands. And then after a couple of years, if it getting on him, we're over here during worship.

And actually, when Ben started, everybody was kind of halfway singing, and Ben rebuked us. He's like, um, they told me I was going to be dead right now. I'm happy to be here. If you ain't happy about Jesus, then do something else. We're going to worship. And he ripped the lid off the place, okay? And my man, this dude, his name's Mike. I know him.

He's a friend of mine. He's a good golfer. And he is two hands in the air, fingers spread like he is trying to bring heaven down the earth. You know why? Because he knows he used to be dead. Now he's alive. And listen, I don't think that's his natural wiring. He's not the most extroverted dude I met.

In fact, he's a urology. think about that for a minute not too much just the right amount of that you don't want him to be all crazy like if you go to that kind of appointment you don't want him walking in go who what are we doing today but like not with you i ain't doing nothing with you i'm gonna no he's like real you know hmm what do we have that's that's kind of how he's wired but he doesn't let his wiring determine his worship man he's going to extravagantly pour out his gratitude on the feet of jesus because when you do it it changes the atmosphere you know why because worship is war.

People ask, will you get that? If you go to Ezekiel, which I'm sure you were reading this morning before you came to church for funds. In Ezekiel, Ezekiel describes Lucifer, the angel of light before he is cast out of heaven. And the Hebrew is intentionally ambiguous. It's hard to tell if he has on like this suit of gemstones or if he's made out of gemstones. But the idea is that the source of light is God and he was the worship leader. Lucifer was the worship leader. that he would refract the light

and people were supposed to look through him to God to give him worship, and he got tired of being looked through and wanted to be looked too. So we got it kicked out of heaven. And every single time we worship the one true God and His son Jesus Christ, we are saying to this world and we are saying to Lucifer, you have lost the battle. We are only worshiping the one who is worthy to be worshiped,

and his name is Jesus. This is a really big deal, man. It's war. Verse four, but Judas is scarier. one of his disciples he who was about to betray him said why was this ointment not sold for 300 denary and given to the poor you know what most churches would do with him make him a trustee what a good steward he is i'm telling you man now listen is jesus into the poor yeah for sure he is but jesus is into serving the poor as an act of worship unto jesus it is a means to an end

And don't you ever, it's to get really popular today, to take a gospel activity and try to elevate it above the gospel. That is not how that works whatsoever. I mean, in fact, in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus is going to say, this is like the final exam to get in heaven. To the sheep on his right, he's going to say, all right, man, you guys are in. Because I was hungry and you fed me and I was thirsty,

you gave me something to drink, I was in prison, and you visited me. And whatever you've done for the least of these brothers of mine, you've done unto me, enter into the joy of the kingdom. And he's going to look at some church folks. He'll be like, y'all going to hell. They're like, what? And he says, yeah, because when I was hungry, you can give me anything?

Thirsty, you gave me nothing. They're like, when did we see you? And he goes, whatever you have not done for the least of these, you haven't done for me. And this is how you understand it. Depart from me, I never knew you. So to know God is to love God's people, period. But that's a means to an end, and the end is the worship of Jesus. I've had people come in here and be critical.

They look at this stage and be like, oh, man, what did that screen cost? That's a lot of lights. We could sold those and give them to them to them. the poor. I'd be like, yeah, I've heard somebody else say something like that. The moment you are critical of extravagant worship, you ain't playing for team Jesus. Be careful, you might be playing for team Judas. Are we into the poor? We currently sponsor 17,000 compassion kids. Do you understand? Like, I know this is not a competition. We're not, we're not merely winning. We're lapping all my friends. You understand? And I ridiculed them mercilessly. I'm like,

what are y'all even doing, man? Okay. So, Judas has a critical heart, and he tries to get super pragmatic. And then we find out why. He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. And having charged as a money bags, he used to help himself to what was put in it. Hater's going to hate. It's what they do. You might want to take your shoes off for this one, expose your toes.

Let me step on them for a second. Are you a thief? Are you a thief? What do you mean? Am I a thief? You see, Judas had access to the money. that belonged to Jesus, and he would stick his hand in it instead of giving it to Jesus, he would go get him some stuff.

In the book of Malachi, Malachi goes to the people and says, you're far from God. They said, how should we return? And the first thing God replies with is this, stop robbing God. And they're like, we ain't robbing you. We're not like dipping into the offering plate and, like, getting some lunch money. What do you mean robbing? And he says, in your tithes and offering. Tide that only means 10%.

It means the first 10. Are you taking out of what is God's? because he don't do leftovers, man. He doesn't do second. Are you taking out of what is his and say, you know what, I'm going to get me some new shoes and then, God, if I got something left over for you, I'll give it to you.

That's what Judas was doing. And listen, and listen, I don't bring this up because the church is in some kind of great need right now. In fact, as a church, you're the most generous church I've ever heard of in my entire life. But here's the thing. The question for you to ask is not, is my church generous?

The question for you to ask with Jesus says, am I being generous? Am I bringing my first and best? am I worshipping him with my first and best? You see, because what began to happen in the life of Judas is he moves from a follower, a worshiper, to a consumer. And it's easy in America to become a consumer of the goods and services of the local church.

A consumer says this all about me. A worshiper says this all about Jesus. A consumer takes, a worshiper gives. A consumer asks the questions when they go to church, I wonder if this is going to meet my needs. A worshiper says, I just want to be pointed to the one who meets all my needs. Consumers, they think, is this a good band?

A worshiper shows up and says, I just want to be pointed to a good, good father. A consumer says, I'm looking for entertaining preaching that makes me laugh. A worshiper says, I'm looking for cross-centered preaching that makes me different. The consumer says, I hope this is fun for the kids. A worshiper says, I want to be equipped to disciple my kids.

A consumer worships at the altar of comfort. I just want to sit down and be comfortable. A worshipper says, I want to be disciples. so that I can go to the very ends of the earth and take the good news of the gospel. Consumer says it's all about me. And a worshipper says, I have been crucified with Christ.

It isn't no longer who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's what a worshipper is. You see, Judas was a consumer. I want us to be worshippers. Mary was a worshipper. And it's not about style. It's not at all about style.

In John chapter 4, Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman and she says, look, your people say we worship on that mountain, my people say we worship on this mountain, which mountain is it, and Jesus is like, timeout, man. The Father is looking for worshippers who worship in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people that love him, that take what is most valuable to them and pour it out on their feet. And listen, what is most valuable to you is not your bank account.

What is most valuable is you. The only thing that you can actually bring him is the only thing he's actually looking for, which is you? Do you know him? Do you love him? Can you see how that's different than just casual church attendance? The church fathers spoke of their relationship

with the Lord differently than most people talk about church these days. Augustine says this, and by the way, it's St. Augustine. is a beach about 40 minutes south of here. St. Augustine is a church father from like the 400s. He says this, how sweet all it wants 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 and sovereign joy, you drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasures. What he's saying is when I first started following you, I thought you were going to take away all the good stuff in my life. Now I don't even see that stuff as that good

because you are better than anything this world has to offer. Martin Luther says, oh, I wish to devote my mouth and my heart to you. Do not forsake me, for if ever I should, 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 says, I thank thee that this, which is a necessity of my new life, is also the greatest delight. So I do at this hour feast on thee.

He eats a steak. He's like, man, that's good. You're better. Are you feasting on the one true God? He says, taste and see that the Lord is good. John Owen, a Puritan says this. O, to behold, the glory of Christ, herein what I live. Herein would I die, herein would I dwell in my thoughts and affections, until all things below me,

until all things below become unto me a dead and deformed thing, no way suitable for affection and embraces. In other words, he's saying, I used to be so enamored with the shiny things of this world. Now those are just like crusty, temporary things as compared to knowing you. Is that what your relationship with Jesus is like? Brother Lawrence, he's a 16th century monk, he wrote a book called The Practice of the Presence. He says, I have at times had such delicious thoughts on the Lord. I am ashamed to mention them. That might be a little too far.

I'm just going to go ahead and confess that. That's a little bit. I'm of the camp that delicious should only be used for food. But do you see how this is different than just going to church a little bit? Kind of halfway singing the song? God has so much more for you. So in the gratitude party, man, what role are you playing? Are you critical like Judas?

Are you pouring out your heart and soul into the feet of Jesus like Mary? Because Jesus looks at Judas, who is complaining and says, leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you will always have with you, but you do not always have me. He's saying, you know, she knows what is most valuable. And not only is she worshipping him for what he did brought Lazarus out of the grave, but for who he is. is. Apparently she's had a conversation with her sister Martha because Jesus told Martha, I am the resurrection in the life. Whoever believes in me will have eternal life. She is anointing him for his burial. I got a new set of commentaries, well, they're like three years old now,

called the ESV expository commentary. Here's what that commentary says about this passage, which says it way better than me, which is not hard, but I just want to read it to you. It says this, 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 a value, its currency. We gain money for what we provide or how we serve, and then we exchange the reward we've gained by our ingenuity or effort for things that we need or want. Money will not shepherd us. Money will not teach us 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. Jesus is the only end worthy of our worship. Amen. Amen. So I want to be a church full of people like Mary. Not with critical hearts. Stingy and afraid like Judas.

So here's what happens. Here's how it ends. Verse 9. And when the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom was 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. Listen, the Bible says, we talk about this all the time in John chapter 10. Our enemy's vision statement is in our Bible. That the thief, so that's who he is. He's a thief. He wants to take what is not his. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

And you know what he wants to kill, still, and destroy? One is he wants to kill, still, and destroy the Word of God. Think about it the first time he ever shows. up, did God really say? That's what he says. Did God really say? He wants you to think that God is trying to keep something from you, that he doesn't have life for you. He wants to destroy the Word of God. He wants to destroy the work of God. Lazarus was a work of God. And they were trying to kill him. You, if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, Ephesians chapter 2 says you are a work of God. You are God's workmanship. And so he's coming after you. And the only thing he wants to do

to you is kill, steal, and destroy. And he wants to take out the worship of God. Why? Because worship is war. And from before creation, he was yearning that he would get to sit in that seat and he doesn't get to. And so, how do you respond to God? For who he is and what he's done, the three siblings here are a pretty good example. We serve, you should. You should serve. And we abide, we lean into Jesus, and we worship like Mary worship. And so we're about to close. And I want us to pour out our hearts in gratitude to the one who loves it, so who loves us and deserves it.

So at the end of our service right now, when we say, hey, listen, man, we respond to the gospel in prayer that the almighty sovereign king of the universe through the blood of his son, Jesus Christ, has given you an open invitation to bring whatever is going on in your life to him. Why wouldn't you sprint to him and fall on your face? And you'd say, Lord, I need your help or God, I am so thankful for this thing in my life. And we bring, we bring our first and best, our ties and our offerings.

We bring a part of the resources that he's blessed us with. But a part of it is just a war against this world to say, the temporary things of this world do not control me. He is more valuable than any other treasure I have. so I treasure him. That's what we do. People say, how much should I bring? Everything. Bring all of your hopes and dreams and desires

and bring all of your sin and condemnation and doubts and bring it all to Jesus and heap it upon his feet. And then we sing. I mean, we need to sing like save people, right? We need to sing like people that used to be lost and now we're found. And the Bible commands us to lift our hands in the sanctuary, to sing, to shout,

with joy. Listen, man, what Mary did at the feet of Jesus, it was not romantic, it was not sexual, but it was intimate and it was passionate. And we need to understand the gospel is not merely practical. It's glorious and beautiful. And he demands that kind of response.

We take the songs that we sing around here very, very seriously, very seriously. We don't just sing random songs because they're popular or whatever. if sometimes you've heard on the radio a different set of lyrics than the ones we sing. I get in trouble for this, but I don't care. I just change the lyrics.

Like if it doesn't say the right words, I go, because it's crazy, man, there's some of the people that make the best music don't have the best lyrics. And so you can't rightly love God without right thoughts about God. If I were to go home this afternoon and write a love song to Gretchen about her beautiful red hair, guess who's not gonna like it?

Gretchen, because she ain't got red hair. So the moment I get to the red hair part she could be like, I think you're talking about somebody else. Okay, so you got to sing truth to the Lord. And there was a song that we used to sing it all the time. We're going to sing it today, too. And it's funny, man, church people would fight over it because it had this one lyric in it. It's called How He Loves.

And the line that got everybody all been out of shape is this, and heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss. And church people are like, oh, I don't know if I can sing sloppy wet kiss in church. And now my little crew that I run around with, we used to be. called the young, restless, and reformed, but none of us are young anymore, so I don't know what we are. But I would speak at all the conferences, because when, you know, you people are so good at the one more, our church blew up, so I get to go to speak at all the conferences, and people would ask me, hey man, y'all sing a sloppy wet kiss?

I mean, heck yeah, we sing a sloppy wet kiss. And they're like, what would Spurgeon think? I don't care. We ain't singing to Spurgeon. We're singing to Jesus, all right? And I guess church people hadn't got to the Song of Solomon in their Bible. You know, there's some really sloppy wet kisses in there. But I think it encapsulates what worship is, man. It is. You know what? They changed it to?

Some people have changed it to an unforeseen kiss. And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss. That doesn't sound like worship. That sounds like the preamble to a restraining order. Stop, stop. Would you stop kissing me? That ain't, no, man. The Bible says in Luke 15, when the prodigal son comes on,

the dad goes running to him, grabs him, wraps his arms around him, and literally in Greek, covers his face with kisses. Let me think about this, fellas. Remember when you got married? What compelled you to marry her? Was it simply practical? I mean, did I get next to scratch in and go,

well, this is the hottest person I've ever been this close to? I better lock it down now while she's young and it's a covenant. She can't get out because I've peaked at 26. Ain't no doubt about that it's going downhill. I'm not why you laughing. I hurt my feeling, okay? But whatever.

Never be able to pull this off again. You think that's what I was thinking? Did you just look at the income revenue source? I'm a youth pastor, so I'm broke. She's a physical therapist so I could use the support. Think that's what it was? Did you just evaluate the genetic potential? This will be good for the provocation of those species.

No, no, what happened? I tell you what happened with me, man. I met her in the gym, I mean, and fell head over heels in love with that girl. I did all kind of stuff. I would never do again. Eat frozen yogurt? What grown man eats frozen yogurt? I can tell you, one's trying to get a girl to marry him, that's who does.

Watch stupid movies and act like I love them. Oh, the notebook, baby, if you lost your mind, I would just come read you stuff every day. You don't even know it. Stupid, it's a terrible movie. I just want to be with her forever. And I didn't just want to study her. I wanted to have it me to hurt like a sloppy wet kiss, man. And even today, I can be emotional, but not just about random stuff.

I don't just cry at cat food commercials or something. My kids can get me choked up. When I talk about the gospel, I get choked up. Reagan can attest, man, I'll sit down on the couch, knee to knee, eye to eye with G, and I just start telling her I love her. And I get all choked up, man. My voice gets all, and my eyes get all puddly. And my kids come in there, like, Dad, what are you doing?

I'm like, you can shut your face. It's moments like this that created you, so you can hush. Yeah, man. So this is it just practical. My love for her is not just practical. My love for the Lord is not just practical. It's not just fire insurance. And so when heaven meets herbs like a sloppy, wet kiss, my heart turns violently inside of my chest.

And I don't have time to maintain the regrets when I think about he loves me. And what is the ask of us to love him back? Just to love him back. There's another song we sing. We're going to sing it in about two minutes. It's called gratitude, which is the posture of the heart of worship. It says, I've got one. response. I've got just one move. With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you. So I throw up my hands

and praise you again and again. You know why we lift our hands? We live it because he tells us to. You know why he tells us to? Remember when your babies were little? You come walking in the room, Mama, and they would just go, hold me. We have a heavenly father. What is you going to bring to him? He wants you. And don't give me this. Well, you know what? I'm a little uncomfortable with that. Oh, that's cute.

Jesus went through a great deal of discomfort that he would tear the dividing curtain between the people of God and the presence of God, that we would be invited into the presence of the king who was actually just our heavenly father. So I throw up my hands and I praise you again and again because all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah is a Hebrew word.

Halal Yahweh. It means praise the Lord. It means lift up your hands to the one true God. That's what it means. and I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king, except for a heart singing, hallelujah. And then I love this. I don't know who wrote this song, I could look it up, but they're doing what David would do in the Psalm.

Sometimes David would talk to his soul. Why are you downcast my soul? In the song, man, he says, so come on my soul. Sometimes you've got to talk to your soul. The way you talk to you matters a lot. He says, come on my soul, don't you get shy on me. Some of you don't lift your hands because you're afraid of what somebody else thinks. Think about this.

You're a grown person and you're acting like a middle schooler. Do you really going to let the opinion of somebody sitting next to you? You ain't even going to stand for three weeks until they come back again. You don't even know who they are really. And what they think about you matters in the presence of the king. So he talks to his soul, man. So come on, my soul. Don't you get shy on me.

Lift up your song because you got a lion inside of those lungs. The lion of Judah that brought Jesus out of the grave. that same spirit of God lives on the inside of every single one of us, and the spirit of God just wants to shine the spotlight on Jesus. Not the singer, but the Savior. So get up and praise the Lord, so that's what we're going to do. We're going to pray. Whether you're in need or you just want to pour out a heart of gratitude,

you sprint up here, you posture yourself in humility before the Lord, and you pray, and he's listening, he hears you. And you bring your first and your best, your ties in your offerings, as an act of worship. God loves a cheerful giver. You should be pumped about saying, God, I just want to lavish my affection on you. And we're going to sing.

We're going to sing like save people. We're going to have a heart of gratitude. We'll lift up our hands. And when the enemy starts chirping, we're going to say, don't listen, soul, don't you get shy on me. The line of Judah's going to come out of these lungs. So would you please stand?

Let me pray for you, and then we'll respond. Our good and gracious heavenly, Father, Lord, I pray, I pray, I pray, I pray. that we would respond rightly to your lavish love, God, your children. We're here. We love you. And oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished upon us, that we would be called children of God.

And so, Lord, Father, we come before you. We pour out our hearts. That's all we have. We pour out our passion on you. It's all we have. We make much of you because you are the only one worthy of our praise. And God, I thank you that when you looked at us, You didn't care what this world thought, but you took what was most valuable to you,

and you broke it and you poured it all over the earth, the blood of your son, Jesus, and the aroma and all of the universe changed when that moment happened. And then you draw us, your sons and daughters, unto yourself, to be more than conquerors and to make much of you because you deserve it. We prayed in Jesus' name, amen. So let's respond. Let's bring, let's sing, let's pray, let's go. Thank you.

Thank you.