« Laboring in the Transformed Heart of Joy-Luke 17:1-10 | Home | A Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving-Luke 17:11-19 »

Service that Points to Jesus - Mark 14:1-11

By Steve Jeantet | May 16, 2008

Intro
Each year we set aside one day, this second Sunday, to celebrate motherhood and to honor mothers.  For some, this day is fill with heartache, a remembrance of a past tragedy such as a child lost or a stinging reminder of one’s own barrenness.  For some, this is a day of triumphant celebration.  Kim today is anxious as she thinks about the child she will hold in her arms the next time this day rolls around.  Today is a special Mother’s Day for good friends in our house church, Paul and Dawn.  See, at 10:33 yesterday morning, Cassidy Janelle was born.  While Kim and I were eating breakfast yesterday, knowing that Dawn was in labor, Kim made a profound comment.  She said that until Cassidy has her own children one day, she would never understand the sacrifice of love that Dawn endured to bring Cassidy into the world.

The great example that motherhood is, though, is that it was not done for rewards or for some payoff, but out of love.  This morning, we would like to honor you briefly.  Jim, if you will help me pass out these carnations, this is our gift to all of you women.  Whether a physical mother or not, you are spiritual family and to be honored.

A few moments ago, we read about a woman and her great act of service and worship to her God.  We are going to dive into this story this morning as she is one of our spiritual mothers and we all stand to be challenged by her simple act of devotion.

First, let me set the context for the story.  Notice the bookends of the passage.  “Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.”  That’s the start of the passage.  It ends this way.  “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.  They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money.  So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”  These bookends reminds us of something very important that we should keep in mind as we read the rest of the passage – Jesus is about to die.  He is in the last week of his life.  Just a couple of days from this event, he would be hanging on the cross dead.  I want us to go back through this story and mine some lessons from it.  But I don’t want us to lose sight of the context.  This is Passion Week, the last week of Jesus’ life.

Retell Story of Mark 14
Jesus is in Bethany where not too long before this he raised Lazarus from the dead.  This woman, whom Mark does not even name, takes an expensive bottle of perfume – the story notes that the perfume is worth a year’s wages (as an aside, that’s an expensive bottle of perfume.  Imagine going and spending an entire year’s worth of your salary on anything! ) – and breaks it.  Now, I don’t know how she broke it, so I’m going to use a hammer. <Break Jar> She then took the perfume and poured it on Jesus’ head and poured it on his feet.  The account of this story in the gospel of John goes on to record that she wiped his feet with her hair.  What a humble act of devotion.  I imagine that she was somewhat scared of what people would think of her and somewhat embarrassed.  Her heart of worship overflows with this amazing act of worship.

And how is it received?  She is mocked and chided for wasting the perfume.  Imagine all the good that could have been done if they sold it.  Imagine all the starving children in Africa they could have fed.

Yet, Jesus quiets the naysayers and gracefully accepts her service, telling them all that she is the one who best understood what would be happening to him in the days to come and that this act was a means of preparing for his burial.  What a powerful story.  But as we get into it, I want us to focus on one major concept.  For us, just like this unnamed woman, our service is not for our reward, but for the proclamation of the gospel.  Let me say that again, we serve not to gain a reward, but to proclaim the gospel.

Our Service Flows From Our Worship
Let’s break down that statement and look at in pieces.  First, our service flows from our worship.  We can’t miss this.  Jesus commends the extravagant overflow of her heart.  This devotion and heart of worship reveals itself in humble service.

Before I go any further, let me go on a short tangent.  Jesus’ comments about “the poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want,” are not, in any way, downplaying the plight of the poor or minimizing the responsibility of God’s people for caring for the poor.  The Scriptures repeatedly call us to care for the poor.  James 1:27 states, “Religion that God our Father accepts are pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  Similarly, the very office of deacon originated in Acts 6 as an intentional strategy for ensuring care for poor widows.  And, from the lips of Jesus himself in Matthew 25, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

So the Scriptures are clear about the mandate to care for the unfortunate and help those in need.  Yet, that Matthew passage reiterates the concept that service is intended to flow from worship.  “You did for me.”  Our feeding of the hungry and giving to the poor is to come from a humble heart, devoted to our God.
According to the John account, the smell of the fragrance filled the whole room.  Even now we can smell the perfume that I broke minutes ago wafting through the whole room.  Likewise, when our humble service, flowing from a heart of worship, will waft up to our Father as a fragrant offering of love.

Our Service is not for our reward
We don’t serve God or others in search of a reward.  I find verse 9 fascinating, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  Even here, today, this morning, we stand in fulfillment of Jesus’ comment that this story will be told.  But what I find so fascinating is that we don’t even know this woman’s name!  Mark never bothers to tell us.  The account in John actually does record her name, but Mark, the one who notes that this story will be told throughout the world, doesn’t even name her.  Why?  Because the goal was not to elevate her.  She did not pour the perfume on Jesus to gain some earthly reward.  Jesus, in his criticism of the Pharisees in Matthew 6, actually says that they have “received their reward in full” (6:5).

God does reward faithful service and extravagant worship, but not necessarily in this life.  We hear about preachers who promise people that if they give this amount of do that act, God will bless them with material prosperity.  There is a temptation to long for that that is very real and powerful.  Some of you have been down here toiling to build this Southern Kent campus for several years.  I’m sure there have been times when you wanted to build it huge so that you can show Glasgow and show the world what a great thing you have done for God.  As I labor with the sports ministry or as I serve down here, I certainly wrestle with wanting to do it well so that I receive accolades.

But here is a place where we must re-examine our hearts and our motives.  David, upon being called to account for adultery and murder by the prophet Nathan, wrote Psalm 51.  Listen to these words, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, o God, you will not despise” (16-17).

This woman did not pour perfume on Jesus for any gain.  She didn’t even know that this story would be recorded for all of history.  Personal glory and reward were not her goal.  Her goal was to demonstrate her devotion to her God.  No, it wasn’t for a reward.  She served Jesus in this way because she had a broken spirit and a contrite heart and longed to show her dependence upon him.

Our service is for the proclamation of the gospel
This is challenging.  Every day we all struggle with serving out of worship and not out of a sordid desire for personal gain.  Yet we must always remember the goal and purpose of our service – that the nations may know that there is a God in heaven.  Our service points people to Jesus.   Jesus died.  Jesus rose.  Jesus is coming again.  That’s the heart of the gospel.  God is sovereign.  God is good.  And God is for his people .  That is what we believe.  That out of his sovereign goodness, the Father sent the Son, Jesus, to earth to die, bearing the sins of the world.  He was then buried for three days in the tomb before rising again, forever victorious over sin and death.  He still lives and one day will come again to be with us, his people, forever!

And it is the declaration and proclamation of that message that fuels our service.  In verse 8, Jesus says, “She did what she could.  She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.”  This woman’s humble act was a declaration for all who witnessed it, and yes, even for us today as we read this story, of the gospel, that Jesus had to die in order to bring us life.

Like this woman, our service points people to Jesus.  Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  The goal of our service is that the nations might hear of Jesus.

As a covenantal church, we speak often about the idea of a legacy of faith.  That we would pass down the story of our great faith from generation to generation is the great task not only for mothers, but for all of us.  All of us are called to serve in such a way that the love of Christ is made manifest to those who are without.  This woman’s humble worship offers a great legacy of faith of service that points people to Jesus.

Southern Kent (specific to the campus where this sermon was preached)
There are times when we feel unappreciated.  I’m sure most of you down here at Southern Kent have felt unnoticed and ignored.  But let me encourage you.  You do not serve for earthly rewards or human recognition.  Your faithful service and extravagant worship are honoring to God.  We want this campus to grow and become the largest church in the region.  But if we do that on our backs, with our strength and for our glory, all will be for naught.  Rather, it is our small, seemingly insignificant and unnoticed worship that rises as a fragrant offering before our God.  He is using you, using us, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus to Kent County.  We are leaving a legacy of faith that is drawing people to Christ.

Henrietta Mears
Have you ever heard of Henrietta Mears?  Most of you have not.  Listen to these words.
I first had the pleasure of being in the company of Miss Henrietta Mears at the first meeting of the Hollywood Christian Group. On that memorable night in 1950, a small group of us in the Hollywood entertainment industry knelt in the living room of Dr. Mears’ Westwood home and unconditionally surrendered our lives to be used of the Lord Jesus Christ in reaching others for His Kingdom through the industry. To be in the presence of Henrietta Mears is to feel the vibrancy of a great Christian faith; to me, she is one of the saints of this age. She challenges and stimulates faith in the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere she goes. She is the most sparkling Christian personality I have ever known, constantly radiating the warmth of Christ. I am sure that in glory Miss Mears will be greatly rewarded for the countless lives of young and old that she has influenced toward Christ in her remarkable ministry as Director of Christian Education at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. May God bless her!

Those are amazing words spoken about a woman no one has ever heard of before.  But let me list a few of those touched by her ministry.
•    Bill and Vonette Bright – founders of Campus Crusade for Christ
•    Jim Rayburn – found of Young Life
•    Dale Bruner – author and seminary professor (most amazing professor I ever had by the way)
•    Dick Halverson – former chaplain to the US Senate
•    Billy Graham – once wrote that, outside his wife and mother, no woman has had such a profound impact on his life

Literally, millions and maybe even billions of people have been ministered to by the protégés of a woman we know nothing about.  From her Sunday School classroom in Hollywood, California, she has left an unbelievable legacy of faith.

Ms. Mears never married and never had children.  She never had occasion to celebrate Mother’s Day.  Yet, who but God alone can count the number of spiritual children she has.  That is the call for us here at Southern Kent.  To leave a legacy of faith that our service would proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pray
Lord, we celebrate today with the mothers in our congregation and ask your special blessing upon them.  They know and understand selfless, rewardless service better than I ever could.  Bless them today.  I also pray for our congregation.  May we be a people marked by extravagant worship and service that our faith would draw people to Jesus.  Amen.

Benediction
Now to him, who by his power that is at work within us, is able to do immeasurably more than we ever dare to ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, forever and ever.  Amen.

Topics: Mark, Mother's Day |

Comments