 I'll begin reading here in John chapter 12 at verse 1. I'll read to verse 8, though we are going to cover to verse 11 tonight, and we'll get into our study. I chose to entitle this installment of our study of John worship or waste, and you're going to see that in just a moment as we go through this passage. So beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 8, John writes, Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead, and there they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spiked nerd, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because it was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, Let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always. And so as we look at this, let me begin by reminding you of one of the things that we see in scripture as you look concerning Jesus Christ, and you read your Gospels, and you see the accounts of his life and all of that. One of the things that stands out is his love, his love for people. And you'll see that in all of the Gospels, Jesus spent great amounts of time with people. He loved them and he would minister to them. The New Testament points out that Jesus would often eat meals and he did so with different people. He did it so often. He ate so often with various people that it became one of the charges that actually had been launched against him. Luke tells us in chapter 15, verse one, all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. The Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, this man received sinners and eats with them. When you look at Matthew 11, verse 19, Jesus said, the son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, look, a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The wisdom is justified by your children. Jesus ate with people quite often. It's recorded that way in scripture. You see, eating and drinking with someone meant that you were accepting them. That's why the Pharisees were so uptight about Christ. By eating and drinking with people, you were actually having a form of community with them. The Pharisees, being self-righteous, would have nothing to do with those who were not religiously self-righteous like themselves. When they saw that Jesus would spend time with these people and share a meal with them, they couldn't understand it. They would speak concerning him in this fashion. Part of the reason that they found it to be so wrong is because when the Jews would have a meal, very often they had their dip, if you will. They had a piece of bread and they would dip it in their Jewish salsa. They had their chips and they drop them in the Jewish salsa. I always think of it when I think of this, just to try and personalize this for you, to take a bowl and I'll just do what we all do, talk about chips and salsa. Why not? When you're at your table and you order, you know, you're about to order your food and they will bring to you, obviously you're in a Mexican restaurant, and they will bring to you the salsa, hopefully it's good. When they bring it, they bring the chips, right? And so you're there, you've got this big old bowl of chips and you've got your salsa and you're just dipping and you're visiting with your friends. That's what you do, you just dip. Now my wife is constantly watching me saying, no double dipping, you know, she's such a legalist, but you know, so you're dipping and it runs out. Now as it runs out, say you've got four, five, six people around the table and you're all just visiting and dipping and then right next to you is a table, some people have been eating and they get up and they start to walk out and you look and you see, they got chips and salsa there. Do you walk over there and take that salsa and put it in yours? Do you? Do you go and pick up the chips that they, no, why don't you do that? Now my mom, you don't mind if I get ethnic for a moment, let me get ethnic. My mom says, because it gives me oscal. It gets me sick to my stomach, it's gross. That's why you don't do it. Now you didn't do that to your own bowl of salsa, did you? You didn't do that with your own chips, did you? Even though you had somebody here, somebody there, somebody eating and dipping with why? Because we're very selective who we allow to dip in the same bowl with us. Why? Because you're close to them, because you're friends with them, because you love them. The Jews did not like to have meals in the way that they're accusing Jesus. They didn't have meals like that. That's why they would say he eats with gluttons and sinners because he's close to them. He's like family to them. That's what this is. It's an accusation concerning the fact that he accepted people, that he would be there with them. And Jesus did that. Jesus would have meals with people so often that people actually formulated charges against him because he did that. And as he would be there and he would eat with people and he would have the meals with them, he very often used those meals, those supper times, as opportunities to speak concerning the kingdom of God. Matthew speaks about it in chapter 9, verses 10 through 13, when he speaks of Jesus being there at a meal and Pharisees noticing this and they're thinking this is wrong for him to have a meal with these people and all. And that's when Jesus said, only the sick will go to a physician. I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Jesus would use meals to illustrate his grace and his goodness and how he came to seek people and all of that. And this is what he's doing. He's having a meal and that's what he does. He has meals with people. He has fellowship with people and often in scripture you'll see that he did that. And what we have here is him having another meal. It's recorded for us and we also have a lesson we can learn from. Now if you take notes, you might want to note that this incident recorded here in chapter 12 is also recorded for us in Matthew chapter 26, as well as Mark chapter 14. The same basic story and I'm going to touch on a couple of the things from those gospel accounts that give us a little more insight because the events that took place this night, it says six days before Passover, are taking place during the last week of his ministry. And so this is the last week and Jesus is now according to John 12 verse 1 in Bethany. Now Matthew 26 verse 6 tells us the name of the person who owned the house. Jesus, according to Matthew 26 verse 6, is in the home of a man known as Simon the leper. That's where he's at. Matthew 26 verse 3 tells us that the religious officials have gathered at the palace of Caiaphas and according to Matthew 26, 4 and 5, they plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him but wanted to do it secretly lest they would start a riot. So this is what is taking place here. Jesus is at the home of a man named Simon the leper and this is taking place, what we're watching is taking place at his home. And so it says six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead whom he had raised from the dead verse 2. There they made him a supper. Martha served but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenoid, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. And so they're at the home of Simon according to Matthew 26 verse 6. Now I want you to note something. I'm going to develop this for just a moment here. He's at the home of Simon according to Matthew 26, 6, Simon the leper. Now Simon was more than likely a former leper who had been cleansed by Jesus. Why would I say that? Again, Matthew calls him Simon the leper. But I'm saying to you as we're studying this together that he would have been a former leper. Why would that be? More than likely cleansed by Jesus Christ. Well, if he were still infectious as a leper according to Jewish law, he would not have had a home in the city. He would not have had a home in the city. Leviticus, the Old Testament book of Leviticus chapter 13 verses 45 and 46 says it like this. The leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare. He shall cover his mustache and cry unclean, unclean. He shall be unclean. All the days he has a sore, he shall be unclean. He is unclean and he shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. And yet Jesus is in his home. If Simon were still infected, he would not have been living in the city. Now, why is it important that Matthew would have told us Simon the leper? Well, many commentators point out that leprosy is what you call a type or a picture of sin. Leprosy is in the Old Testament, a picture of sin. Why? Well, because leprosy damages the nerves. It makes the skin numb, unable to feel pain. And sin does the same thing. It makes you unable to be feeling the pain of what you do. You become numb to it, callous to it. Leprosy progresses. It eventually contaminates every element of a person's life the way sin does. Leprosy can eventually kill tissue and it leads to death. Sin leads to death. The wages of sin is death. Leprosy is something you cannot hide. No matter what you do, you are obviously a leper. And sin is something you may think you're hiding, but you really cannot hide it. Leprosy produces outcasts and so does sin. Sin, when we involve ourselves in sin and all, we lose friends and family. It produces outcasts. It separates us from God. And then finally, in Scripture, only God can cleanse a leper. Only God can do that. They have a ritual that you offer sacrifice when you've been cleansed, but there is no way that human beings ever cleansed another human being from leprosy. And only God can cleanse a leper and only God can cleanse a sinner. And so commentators from very early on in the church saw leprosy in that way. And when a leper was cleansed, what he would do is he would give an offering to God and he would live a new life. And so with this in mind, this dinner may have been given for two reasons. One, it may very well be a dinner of appreciation to Jesus for cleansing him of his leprosy. There are others though who would say, well, it may be that Jesus is being honored with a supper in gratitude for raising Lazarus from the dead because we do see Lazarus as a guest of honor there. It says in verse two once again, they made him a supper and Martha served. Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Notice that Martha is there serving and in a moment we're going to see Mary worshiping. Does that make you remember anything you've read in Scripture? Luke chapter 10 verses 38 through 42 where Jesus is at meal and Mary's at his feet as he's teaching and Martha's in the kitchen smashing pots and pans loudly because she's mad because her sister's wasting time sitting at the feet of Jesus while she's making matzball soup and she's really angry that Jesus doesn't notice that. And you remember the story, how she comes in, you can almost see her with her hands on her hips, you know, just kind of tapping her toes and looking at her younger sister there, that lazy little this and that. Why aren't you helping me? And then she starts to tell Jesus off, tell her to come and help me. Can't you see I'm working alone here? So she in our case we've seen Martha before. Martha is known for her service and Mary is known for her worship. But something has happened in the heart of Martha. She's no longer frantic with serving as found the answer is being first seated at the feet of Jesus. And so she's now serving him with a proper attitude. Her priorities are no longer misplaced. He's doing so now with a proper heart. I would remind you, by the way, that serving the Lord is a natural response of thankfulness to God. It's a natural response. God did something in your life and you serve him. I'm reminded of a healing that took place early in Jesus's ministry. It's recorded in Mark's Gospel how Peter's mother-in-law had a severe fever. Remember that and remember how according to Mark 131, Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her and she served him. Service is always the natural response when the Lord touches you. And it was Peter's mother-in-law and that's the reason why later on theologians would say that's why Peter denied the Lord for raising up his mother-in-law. But I'm not sure if that's true or not. That's just hearsay. That's an old one, but I like it. Here's something for you. What you worship, you always serve. What you worship, you always serve. But ever it is you worship, you sacrifice for. How do we know that? Luke chapter 4 verses 5 through 8. This is when Jesus was being tempted and by the devil and it says in Luke 4.5, the devil led him up to a high mountain or a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, I will give you all, I will give you all their authority and splendor for it has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to. Now notice what he says. So if you worship me it will all be yours. And Jesus answered, it is written worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Worship is always served. What you worship, you will always sacrifice for. Satan wanted Jesus to worship him because Satan wanted Jesus to serve him. And that's why Jesus, holding scripture said no. You worship the Lord your God and him only do you serve. So whatever it is I worship, whatever it is you worship, whatever you put as the key priority of your life, worship is simply saying this is the most important thing to me. This is what I love. This is what I'm willing to sacrifice for. This is what I'm willing to to take the assets God gives to me and use to purchase. This is what I think about all the time. This is what motivates my life. This is what I worship, what you worship you will serve. And that's what we're looking at today because service, service to God is often expressed through service to people. You see genuine faith needs to be expressed and it's expressed not by words alone but by actions. In James 2 26, the body without the spirit is dead. So faith without works is dead. And so we're going to see an example of worship here because in verse three, Mary took a pound that's 12 ounces, took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. And so some confuse, and I'm going to say this briefly for those who may have heard this in the past, some confuse this particular act of worship with something that's recorded in Luke chapter 7 verses 36 through 50. There are some details that are similar in Luke 7. You have a woman anointing Jesus and all and you have the same thing here in chapter 12. But there are different things about that. You see the events took place at different times and in different locations. The event of Luke chapter 7 took place to the north. The event that's taking place here is just outside of Jerusalem, which is to the south. One event took place in the house of Simon the Pharisee. The other event, Simon the Lamper. One woman is unnamed and immoral. The other one is named. She's Mary, a follower of Jesus. The unnamed woman was commended by Jesus, but Mary, you'll see in a moment, was criticized by the men. And one woman anointed just his feet, but Mary anointed both his head and his feet. These are different instances with different women in different locations. So we don't confuse the two. So verse 3 says that Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spignard and anointed the feet of Jesus. This oil, commentators say it could have come from three places, but more than likely was from India. And it's what is referred to as very, very costly. It was used in various places. It was used in Egypt. It was used in Rome. Obviously it was used in Israel and it was a very expensive ointment. As mentioned a moment ago, he refers to it as a pound, but that's equal to 12 ounces. So Mary took this very costly oil and used it to anoint Jesus. We know that Mary came from a wealthy family. We know this because Lazarus had been placed when he had died in the family vault, and that was very expensive. That would tell us or explain to us how she was in possession of such costly perfume. And a little more for you, in Israel, washing feet and anointing with oil was customary. It was used for refreshing guests. But in this case, we see something deeper than hospitality. What we're looking at here is an act of worship. You see interaction. We see some very basic elements of the kind of worship that God accepts. And so I want to give you a few things as I'm laying a foundation and some layers to find a place of application. I want you to notice something here about worship. I want to show you some basic elements of worship, the kind that God accepts. The first thing I want to point out is worship that is acceptable to God is directed to Jesus and not anyone else. Worship is always to Jesus Christ and nobody else. True worship is always directed at the one worthy of worship and no human being. And Isaiah 42.8, Isaiah said, God said through Isaiah, I am the Lord. That is my name, my glory. I will not give to another. Nor my praise to graven or carved images. In John 5.23, Jesus said, all should honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So worship that's acceptable is directed to the Lord. Secondly, worship is costly. Verse 3 tells us she took a pound of very costly oil of spikynard. Verse 5 tells us it was worth 300 days wages, which is equal to one year's wages. So I thought what is the average wage as it's averaged out throughout the 50 states of the United States? What is the average wage for the average wage earner? And two sites said that the average wage, and some of us can begin to compare what we receive over the year with what the average wage is. The average wage of an American today general is $47,000 a year. That's the average wage. So what you're looking at right now is she spent what we would say is equivalent to no less than $47,000 on her gift. That's why it spoken of as being a very costly gift because it was very, very expensive. Perfume can be expensive. I don't know that. I don't wear it. But I thought I wonder what I wonder what's very expensive today. Well, I can't even pronounce this. Forgive me. So Chanel, we all know that name. Even men know that name. Chanel, now I'm going to mispronounce this. And if you can help me, that's I'm fine with that. I cannot pronounce this. It's Chanel grand. I guess it's supposed to be extract, but it's E X T R A I T extract. I don't know. All I know is it's $4,200 an ounce. There you go. Here's another one. Some of you ladies may know or some of you men who hide in the room and put it on. We can talk after church. There's another one. Baccarat? Baccarat? I don't know. Do you know, baby? Thank God you don't. I don't know how to pronounce this. This is all French, but it's Le alarm sucre des thieves. $6,000. I can pronounce that $6,800 an ounce. An ounce. Clive Christian, number one, Imperial majesty perfume. $12,721 an ounce. Well, Mary's was very expensive. It was valued at approximately $4,000 an ounce, and she dropped all 12 ounces on Jesus. It's equivalent to one year's wages. And so John is making it very clear that her gift was very expensive to her. Jesus was well worth it. Why? Because she loved him. And that is, by the way, the heart of worship. Somebody was asking me in one of my, I do a mentoring class with some of the men, what is the heart? What is the heart of worship? Love for Christ. It always begins there. When you're in love with Jesus, you'll do anything for him. Because that's what love does. Love will do anything for him. And she was in love with Jesus. She's not thinking of the cost. She's thinking of the love. And you know what? People, people will sacrifice and stand in line for all kinds of things. I've seen it. You have two, and some movies come out that people will, well, I heard just this Star Wars, the recent Star Wars movie that came out that people were in line for like two or three days, that they would spend three days in line so they could fall asleep in the theater. They'll stand, they'll stand in line for a concert. Did you hear a performer that they like? Or they'll stand in line to go see a play. They'll stand in line sometimes 45 minutes an hour or longer to get into a restaurant. They'll do a lot of things in order to get a glimpse of their favorite stars. They're willing to, to, to sacrifice for that. I was reading on the Super Bowl 2020, you know, the game that's coming up pretty soon that so many people care about. And I don't, because of Rams. But do you know that right now that Super Bowl tickets are starting at $3,725 a ticket? But the more expensive ones per ticket. I looked it up. I just went to the Almighty Google and I said, Google, how much are Super Bowl tickets going for? The highest price right now, and it'll go up for one ticket is $89,500. You will spend, that will, those will go. We know those will go. Every seat will be taken. $89,500 to watch a football game. So you will sacrifice for what you love. You will. They do all the time. We do human beings do all the time. That's just a fact. So everything, whether it's like, again, whether it's going to a movie or going to a game, it takes sacrifice and it takes finance. It takes time. And so why, why are we willing to spend that kind of money? Because our old nature is self-centered and it's constantly directed to self-satisfaction. So why is it that the Lord says to me that I ought to give to him? Why is that? Does he need it? Does God need it? Is he broke? Does he need me to support him? No, because giving breaks my old flesh desire for self and I become more like the one who gave. And if I'm going to be like my God, I need to remember that my God is a giving God. And so when I learned to sacrifice, when I learned to worship through, through gifts that we're seeing here in this particular chapter, it's breaking my desire to meet my needs only and teaching me to care about others. It, it does that. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9, Paul said, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich, rich in blessings and not necessarily finances, but you grow as a person in your giving. Now, as I was looking at this, I began to think of examples in scripture that emphasize the sacrifice because we're going to look at the response in just a moment. And I remembered King David and I remembered what had occurred and what is recorded in the book of 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel, the Bible tells us how that King David took a census of the fighting men of Israel. And when he did that, God judged him for doing so. And so God gave him the opportunity to determine his own penalty. And he gave him three choices. He said, you can choose between these three things, seven years of famine or flee from your enemies for three months or three days of plague. Those were the three wonderful choices God gave to David. And David's response is recorded for us in 2 Samuel chapter 24 verse 14. David was speaking to the prophet Gad and he said, I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man. So the result of falling into the hand of the Lord was 70,000 people died. The prophet Gad instructed David build an altar for sacrifice to God on Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac. It's where Solomon built the temple ultimately. And so it was owned by a man by the name of Arana. And at first when David said, I want your land, I'm going to do something there. Well, Arana tried to give David the land. But in 2 Samuel 24 verse 24, the king said to Arana, no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. Now listen, nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing. Sacrifice is going to cost the gift to the Lord. There's a cost to it. David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. So genuine worship of God will always be costly, but it's always given with a willing heart. In 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. God loves a cheerful giver. That word cheerful speaks of hilarity. God loves a giver who sees it as a great joy to give. So sacrifice is costly. Worship is costly. And then third, worship will always come from a humble heart. When you look at this, she actually lets down her hair. She wiped his feet with her hair. So Mary anointed his feet and dried them with her hair. Women didn't normally let down their hair. It was considered improper and even erotic. So to do so was to oppose cultural norms. This act is revealing true humility. And so genuine worship to the Lord will always be humble because she was performing the work of a servant of the house and letting down her hair in this way was an act of voluntary humbling. So worship is never done with the desire for attention. Like Jesus said to us when he says, there are those who give in an ostentatious way to be seen by men. It's never done with the desire for attention. It is simple and it's directed. In Psalm 95 verse 6, come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. And then fourth, true worship produces a noticeable fragrance and is actually enjoyed by others. Notice how the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Jesus received the worship but others were benefiting from that and they smelled the beauty of that very costly oil. It is a ministry to others. Like it says in 2 Corinthians 8, 3 and 4, when Paul said, I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. And so others benefit from that act of service. And not all people see the value of giving to the Lord. Some don't see it as worship. Some consider it simply waste because in verse 4, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Judas is referred to as a disciple for the purpose of emphasizing his sinfulness. As one chosen to be an apostle, he of all people should have known better. In Mary's act of generosity, Judas' deceitful and greedy heart is openly revealed. He felt worshiping Jesus was a waste of money because he didn't love him. Now Judas isn't the only one who objected to this. In Mark 14, 4 and 5, it reads, there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, why was this fragrant oil wasted for it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor? And they criticized her sharply. So by comparing Mark and John, we see that Judas initiated the complaint, but he influenced others. And Judas had a calculator for a brain. He was computing the value even as he looks at this. And by saying it was worth 300 denarii, the others increased its value in their mind and even exaggerated it beyond that. Judas' heart was filled with greed. And he also was filled with hypocrisy because he's pretending to be holy and caring about the poor. And the outward appearance could be seen, but he hit his heart so well that they didn't even know that he was contemplating what he could have done with that money had it been in his hand. So that gives us a glimpse of how trusting and naive we can be. We can see somebody and think that they surely are people who love the Lord, when in fact they're hiding their hearts, but God can see it. And Judas had all the apostles deceived by his outward act of concern and care for the poor. And then we see in verse 6 how it says, this he said, not that he cared for the poor. He was a thief and he had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. He was the church treasurer. He consistently robbed God and he had no guilt about it. He didn't care for the poor. He was a thief. Remember that Jesus was supported by followers. In Luke 8, 2 and 3 it says, certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene out of whom had come seven demons, Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod Stewart and Cezana and many others provided for him from their substance. So they would give to the Lord and Judas had the money bag. He kept it. When it says he safeguarded or he kept it or had the money box, it speaks of something he did regularly. It wasn't that he simply had it at that moment. It means that he was trusted to care for the finances and everybody knows that you don't give your money to somebody you don't trust and most of us don't anyway. You don't give your money to somebody you don't trust. Judas was trusted by everybody. That's why he could get away with it. That emphasizes his duplicity. He had the money box. He was trusted by all. He was the treasurer. He had been for some time. He had access to the funds. He habitually pilfered from the money and for him giving such a generous gift to Jesus was a waste of money that he could have used for himself because he considered worshiping through giving as throwing money away. In Malachi 314 we read, you have said it's useless to serve God. What profit is it that we've kept his ordinance and that we have walked his mourners before the Lord of hosts? What profit is it to us? In Luke 12 34 where your treasure is there your heart will be also. So that attitude is normally shared with others. That attitude of wasting your money on God and it infects them. Often it is stated in a spiritual way. We could have done something with that money and given to the poor but that's only to emphasize your attempt to make that one person look bad and make yourself look good. It says again in Matthew 26 8 and 9 when his disciples saw it they were indignant saying why this waste? This fragrance might have been sold for much and given to the poor. So it's that kind of attitude that infects churches. It stifles giving and it hinders ministry. Some consider finance is used for the work of ministry to be simply a waste. Why do you do that? Why do you spend money? Some people might even have told you in the past why do you give to the church? Why you know they're ripping you off? You know that? Why do you do that? Because they see it as a waste and see the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is we're like Mary. We see it as an act of worship and nothing's too good for the Lord but the unbeliever the people who have the spirit like Judas they see it as a waste and I could have used it for myself and I just as soon get myself something to give something to them I don't trust them and all of that and we use all kinds of excuses sometimes we do to try and keep things more for ourselves to our own hurt and that infects churches. They think that finances that are used for the work of ministry which are actually going to the worship of Christ is simply a waste. Well Jesus makes it very clear. He says let her alone verse 7. She has kept this for the day of my burial for the poor you have with you always but me you do not have always and so Jesus makes a very clear statement to them his disciples didn't have her discernment. You see giving to God requires insight. They didn't want to think of his death. She knew he was going to die and she actually was preparing him. Now of course he wasn't saying that we should not care for the poor because he says the poor you have with you always. He's not saying don't care for them. He's not saying we shouldn't care for them at all because genuine love for the Lord is demonstrated by a concern for the poor like it says in Proverbs 1917 he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he'll pay back what he's given but the simple fact is Jesus is saying is there will always be those who are financially poor and he's saying you will always have opportunities to help them. So how do we safeguard ourselves against having and I want to make this practical how do we safeguard ourselves from having spiritual attitude like Judas seeing that the giving to the Lord is a waste because that's what they're saying that's what the disciples said why was this waste and they see giving to God is not profiting to them personally and therefore it's just a waste then you spiritualize it a bit by saying oh we could have given to the poor which obviously Judas wasn't going to do because he was just thinking I could have had more money to steal. How do I safeguard myself against that? My wife Marie and I as we've been reading through we're going through the Bible in a year together and I mentioned that a while back and so you know in our earlier reading in the book of Genesis I he comes to mind Genesis 14 and in Genesis 14 you have the story of Abram and his nephew Lot and right in about the middle of the chapter it speaks about five kings that go in opposition in war against four kings you have four kings from from Babylon from the Babylon area and then you have these five kings that are from the south in in Israel and there is a a battle that takes place between the five against the four and the four kings that are going against the five are are are more powerful and so they defeat the five kings from Sodom, Gomorrah and surrounding area and they take the wealth and they take the people and as captives as slaves and they start to flee and they go back up and they're going to the north and then going to the east so they can go into Babylon where they're from so they've got all of this stuff that they've stolen plus the people well Abram who you know was Abraham Abraham's nephew Lot was there in Sodom and he and his family are taking captives and he comes to Abram and says your nephew Lot has been taken off by these kings and he arms 318 household servants think about that for just a second 318 household servants gives us an indication of how wealthy he is and how many servants he has and these 318 are trained militarily so they're warriors so the scripture tells us that he takes 318 of them and he pursues these these kings who had just defeated five and he takes them and he gets Lot he takes all the goods and everything and returns now as he's returning the scripture tells us that he meets up with a very mysterious figure by the name of Melchizedek you've all heard of Melchizedek and he runs into Melchizedek or encounters him Melchizedek comes and he blesses Abraham and as he blesses Abraham the scripture tells us that Abraham gave him a tithe of all that he had so he first gives Melchizedek when he comes back down south the king of Sodom and we all know Sodom and we know what is famous for the king of Sodom representing the other kings approaches him and says listen you know I want to give to you the the spoils of the war and and Abraham says to him no I don't want to give you a single thing I don't want to take a single thing from you not a thing and this is a word that he says last you should say I have made Abraham rich now how did Abraham resist the temptation of getting all of this extra wealth given to him and this is a principle that I believe we should have in our mind as we give to the Lord what strengthened him against receiving from Sodom because when you first give to God because his gift to Melchizedek is representative of an offering to the Lord when you first give to God you are safeguarded against taking the things of Sodom what is it that's going to keep me free from the desire for possessions the greed and everything else that comes along with this world for me to desire to be a very rich man to manipulate people and take from people to become wealthy through people and you see and I say this honestly and there's a sorrow in my heart as I do and that is that there are many ministers who do just that they they make promises say all you need to do is send this money for your seed faith I was watching somebody just two nights ago saying that if you do this particular thing I'll send you this tape if you give this much money you're going to get this much money in return what safeguards us from having greed you first give to God when you first give to God it breaks your desire to give to Sodom or receive from the world that's how it works when you first give to the Lord you resist receiving from what the world wants to give to you that's a key in giving if you love the Lord Mary did Mary said there's nothing too good for my lord 47,000 at least 47,000 dollars worth of ointment is not enough for him but you have a guy like Judas watching this and his little calculator brains going that could have been sold four thousand dollars an ounce 48,000 dollars could have been in this purse if you've got a lot of coins nobody notices when you take just a few of them and I'm sure it'll be replenished but nobody'd even notice that was his mind and that kind of mind influences others and that's why the others are listening to him when you say well this way because it sounds so spiritual what a waste this is and they're saying yeah we could have even more than 300 denari and they exaggerate that because they were infected by Judas's mentality and we do have people we do have people who will tell us what a waste it is for you to give to God what is it profit us to give to God what a waste it is to give to God and I have never discovered that to be true not yet and I've been walking with the Lord for a while and it can tell you I haven't seen that to be true the Lord you can never out give God that's the truth you you can never out give God you can never give to you more than he deserves you never can and that's what the lesson is that I receive at least from watching her and watching the way she acted you see because when you have an opportunity to bless the Lord that's that's basically what you do when you give your gifts when you give your offerings that's what you're doing and the fragrance it's it's not just blessing you know one one thing but the fragrance is is noticed by all in other words things continue to go that are blessings to others that's how it works and so when I look at the giving heart of Mary she had a discernment she knew this one's going to die for me she prepared his body for burial because it was going to be a quick burial when he was taken off the cross so she's actually preparing in advance and then he says it again he says verse 8 the poor you have with you always but me you don't have always I'm gonna go I'm gonna leave you and that's what's gonna take place you see he remembered both her works but he also remembers the works of Judas in mark 14 8 and 9 mark records that Jesus said she has done what she could she has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial assuredly I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world but this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her so we're remembering two people right now we're remembering a woman and Jesus speaks about it being a memorial to her and we're thinking of Judas so I have an opportunity to ask myself which one I want to be like she did all that she could she did it in preparation for his burial she brought the ointment she gave the offering she anointed him he's the Lamb of God he takes away the sin of the world and that's what he did and then finally as it says again verse 9 a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead but the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus they wanted to put Jesus to death but they just added Lazarus to the list and the stage is set Jesus is heading for the cross and by the way this public rebuke and we'll look at that closer later on but I believe that this public rebuke of Judas later alone is one of those things that pushed him over the edge the stage is set Jesus rebukes him it pushes him because in mark 14 verse 10 it said Judas Iscariot one of the 12 went to the chief priests to betray him to them he got rebuked didn't like it it's it I'm going to take care of this went straight to the priest I'll tell you how to take him and he sold Jesus if he couldn't get the money from that purse he would get the money by selling him because he worshiped money he worshiped so much so he was willing to sell the Son of God for nothing for the price of what was called at that time a common house servant that's how much it cost to purchase Jesus cost of a house servant and so Judas or Mary Waste or worship it's up to us