 Let's turn to our Bibles to John chapter 12 and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 8 to 1 through 11 and I've titled this message a fragrance that fills the room and As we're preparing for the Christmas season a lot of us spent a lot of time with family this last week celebrating Thanksgiving and it was a time of Eating a time of fellowship and it gives us a clear picture of the heart of Jesus And so tonight as we look at this we're going to take a look at an act of worship This message is going to center on Worship this message is going to center on our style of worship to the Lord as we take a look at a beautiful picture of What worship is and so what I want to do is I want to read the first eight verses and then we'll get into our study But let's pray real quick you guys again. Jesus blessed this time We ask that your name is glorified and honored. Holy Spirit. We invite you here in Jesus name. Amen Then it verse chapter 12 verse 1 then six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been raised who had been dead whom he raised from the dead There they made him a supper and Martha served But Lazarus who was one of those who sat at the table with him Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil a spike nard anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his And noted I'm sorry nor the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and 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 dinari and given to the poor? Then he said not that he that he cared for the poor But because he 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 my day of burial for the poor You have with you always, but me you don't always have one thing that stands out about Jesus is his love for people Jesus spent a great amount of time Loving and ministering to them the New Testament points out that Jesus would often eat meals with different people The importance of eating and dining back in those days was meant that you were accepted and that you would accept the people that you had over and Jesus simply loved the people and Enjoyed spending time with them and reaching out to them and ministering to them and and fellow shipping with them Some of Jesus's greatest lessons were given as he was eating meals with his disciples and Matthew chapter 9 verses 10 through 13 while sitting at the table with many tax collectors and sinners Jesus's message was I call it I come to call the sinners to repentance and Luke chapter 7 verses 36 through 50 a Pharisee invites Jesus to eat with him where a woman comes to an anoints his feet and his message was to him little is forgiven the same loves little and Luke chapter 10 verses 38 through 42 Jesus is welcome into the home where one sister is caught up in serving and worried about her sister not helping her and and as she Sat at the feet of Jesus and her and Jesus's message at that time was but one thing is needed so we see that Jesus has given lots of great instruction during times of meals and Here we have another meal that is presented in this lesson that I think we can really embrace Here the context tells us in verse 1 that this event took place during the last week of Jesus's ministry Here in verse 1 we're given a timetable of when this is going to take when this is taking place And it says it's six days before the Passover This is Jesus's last week. It's his passion week before he would be brutally executed on the cross His amazing love for others and fellowship with others even the face of his brutal death and that's just who our Jesus is selfless and We see here that the context in the setting here is one week before he's crucified In verse 2 we see that they made him a supper and Martha served Lab but Lazarus with one of those who sat at the table with him Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spiked Nard Anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the room and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil The sitting the setting that we have here in Matthew chapter 26 verses 6 through 8 tells us that this house belonged to a man named Simon the leper It also reveals that Jesus and the rest of disciples were here at this at this meal as well It's interesting to point out that Matthew That Matthew and Mark do mention Simon the leper, but here in the book of John. We don't see that Simon is mentioned He was a previous leper who had been cleansed by Jesus And so it's important to point out that this dinner could have been given for one or two reasons This could have been a dinner of appreciation for Jesus cleaning cleansing Simon the leper or it could have been Jesus that is being honored with a supper and gratitude For raising Lazarus from the dead I could imagine this conversation that was going on around this dinner table if I was able to be a Fly on the wall during that conversation. This is what I would imagine that would take place I could imagine Simon the leper or the ex leper saying you can't imagine what it was like I saw the scabs fall off my hand and my fingers grew back in place and I reached up and touched my face And I was able to feel it and I was healed For leprosy is a disease known in the biblical times that was a flesh eating disease It would cause skin sores and nerve damage and muscle weakness and it got worse over time then perhaps I can imagine Lazarus interrupting and Said no, no, no that no way Simon. That's nothing Yeah, what Jesus did for you was great But I was dead in the tomb for four days And you know it was a good thing about this as I went to paradise and I seen Abraham I seen Isaac I seen Jacob But I tell you the most amazing thing that I saw is when I came back to the tomb and had the rags removed from my face and Everyone's eyes were this big I could imagine that conversation that was going on But we see in verse 2 that there was a supper that was made and Martha served But Lazarus was the one who sat at the table with them Martha served Martha's serving as Well as we see in verse 3 that Mary is worshiping and this is the same Martha who not too long ago and Luke chapter 10 verse 38 42 was the one that was complaining Lord tell my sister to come help me in the kitchen and serve And once again Jesus says leave her alone for what she is doing the one thing is needed which was sitting at the feet of Jesus Martha had once let's place her priorities in serving, but no more she is serving but now she's serving with the proper heart and the key to service and Deserving the Lord is a natural response of thankfulness and love for the Lord I like what pastor David says he said do you know that we are saved to serve We are all have been saved to serve the Lord We have not been saved for our own works We have been saved to serve the Lord The fact is what you worship you will always sacrifice for and you will serve Isn't that amazing that whatever it is that you worship? You will always sacrifice for it and you will serve Luke chapter 4 verses 5 through 8 says the devil led him up to 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 their authority and splendor for it has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to so if you worship me it will be all yours and Jesus answered it is written worship the Lord your God and serve him only Whatever it is that we worship we serve Think about those things tonight in your life that have a tendency to consume your thoughts What are those things tonight that are consuming your thinking? What are those things that are keeping you up in the middle of night that has grabbed all your attention? What are those things? What are those things that you put a whole lot of energy into and and what happens is that we become so wrapped up In it that we begin to turn our worship towards it and we begin to serve it It can be your marriage It can be your job It can be your position. It can be somebody But whatever it is that we put our attention to and whatever it is that's consuming our thoughts. That's what we're worshiping Ask yourself tonight What do I find myself thinking about the most during the day? What are those things that are worrying me What are those things that are eating me up inside that have consumed my thoughts and whatever it is? Whatever it is if it begins to shadow or overshadow our worship for the Lord Then it's become your God Because whatever we worship we serve and God plainly said in Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 that you shall have no other gods before me Our worship is for God only The fact is is that service to God is often expressed through service to others Faith needs to be expressed by actions or it's not genuine James chapter 2 verse 26 says as the body without the spirit is dead So faith without works is dead And you know you guys I've been convicted of this in my own life Because my faith in Jesus and my service to God needs to be expressed through others and how am I to do this? I'm to love love Love is how we express our service and our worship to God an earmark of a Christian is The love of what we do for one another and our expression of service to one another So what does this mean that if we have somebody in need we help them? You know I was sharing not too long ago How we measure intelligence There's a standardized test that we use it's called an intelligence quotient an IQ We use that for a number of different things to measure a number of different things for people who are applying for pretty Some big jobs and and we use this intelligent quotient to gauge their intelligence But there's also another type of quotient that I want to ask you tonight is I don't want to ask what your IQ you is I want to ask what your IQ is What is your love quotient? If I were to ask you from a scale of one to ten Ten saying man. I love Jesus so much and one saying I don't love Jesus and I was to ask you to tell me your score Everybody being super spiritual in here. I'm sure would say a 10. How much do you love? Jesus and in your heart you're saying John. I'm at a 10 Because I love the Lord. I serve him. I worship him. I'm I'm here every Sunday. I'm here every Wednesday But you know how we measure the love for the Lord Is how we love others The way we measure our love quotient is how we love and serve others That knocked my score from a 10 plus plus plus It's like a negative three and it really put things in perspective for me and I think about what we see here in the next following verses is an example of love Service and a true act of worship Look at verse 3 and Mary took a pound of very costly oil a spike nard and Anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and 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 denariant given to the poor then he said Not because that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief So what do we learn for Mary's actions? One her action was very costly Judas estimated the cost of that genuine spike nard ointment to about to be about 300 denari a Daenerys was one day's wage and 300 denari was approximately one year wage Spike nard was probably from Nepal But most likely from India and it was very costly and very oily It was a costly oil that was used in Egypt by kings and princes and and a well as well as in Rome and Obviously here in Israel But it's important to point out that a pound was equal to 12 ounces and this is the amount that Mary used now When I speak about this part my wife gets a little excited Hi, honey. She's at home with the sick kids But listen perfume how many women in here like perfume some of you guys are being shy tonight. I Smell the church when I come in some people have it on a lot But listen to some of the prices of perfume Chanel number five $120 an ounce That's cool listen to this one Clive Now if somebody if I pronounce these wrong just correct me after service I don't know how to say any a lot of these things, but listen to this one Clive Christians Imperial Majesty $215,000 for 16.9 ounces It's about twelve thousand seven hundred and twenty one dollars an ounce honey. Don't get any don't get any ideas Okay, here's a tongue twister Baccarats less Larmay or Larmese sacriste the bees Seventeen hundred dollars for a quarter of an ounce About sixty eight hundred dollars an ounce Clive Christians number one twenty one two thousand one hundred and fifty dollars for two ounces Ralph Lauren notorious three thousand five hundred and forty dollars for two point two ounces and Then this one here is I called it Hermes, but it's Hermes Hermes perfume twenty four Fauburn $1,500 an ounce Mary's perfume that points out in verse five was 12 was 12 ounces and it was valued at approximately $4,000 an ounce in today's standards So it would have been equivalent to one year's wage of about forty eight thousand dollars Her gift was very expensive But to but to her Jesus it was well worth it Because she loved him People stand in line for all kinds of events for movies concerts plays Restaurants sporting events just to get a glimpse or their favorite star and All of this incurs a cost and a sacrifice Now there's nothing wrong with going to movies concerts and sporting events But once again when we become it becomes a point in our life where we worship it. We're serving it In fact our old nature is so self-centered and is constantly directed to self-satisfaction But when we give to the Lord and worship him it breaks our old nature's desire for self And we become more like Jesus who gave himself for us Mary gave her most prized possession Her most treasured possession to Jesus, but our possessions may not be as Worth as Mary's or it might not have that cost as much as Mary's and that was true for Martha Martha was didn't care about perfume, but she valued the work of service Her sacrifice to Jesus her sacrifice to Jesus was Perspiration rather than perfume and it was just as noble and just as worthy and just as value is Mary's sacrifice So my question you tonight is what would you give Jesus? What is your most prized possession for some people it may be their bank accounts, which I'm telling you that's not mine For others it's a position at work and for some it's a relationship But the question is would you give it and would you give it your all? We will make it available. We make it available for Jesus's use and Mary gave humbly her best to Jesus and we see here at the end of verse 3 is when she did this when she when she wiped His feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil But one of the disciples Judas Iscariot Simon's son who would be trade him said why wasn't this fragrant oils not sold for 300 deniering given to the poor? You know, it's interesting that we can picture in our minds Mary who comes in and it says that she used her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus in that culture Hair was a symbolic of women's of a woman's glory and she lavished Jesus's feet with her glory because she was self-forgetting She was passionate and There are times when we should not shy away from such open and passionate love and worship for our Jesus We should let our tears fall in and Jesus said of Mary and Matthew 2610 she has done a beautiful thing to me You know, we think about that time when People would wear sandals There was no tennis shoes There were no paved highways and people would walk and their feet would get really grimy and really dirty and and the fact that she came in and and got on to her knees before a rabbi teacher The son of God She crossed all social norms and and cross cultural boundaries and she didn't care But she gave her all to worship Jesus and she comes and she kneels and she's pouring her tears out on His feet and using this spike Nard and anointing his feet and using her hair to Wipeless and wipe his feet and what a selfless passion and act of worship John adds at the end of verse three that the house was filled with the fragrance of oil and This tells us that Mary didn't use a tiny pinch of the spike Nard to anoint Jesus's feet She broke the whole container She gave him her all and we can learn from this because when we worship Jesus We need to give him our all not just a tiny little pinch, but we need to give him everything We need to have a selfless passionate worship for our king Who went to the cross and gave us his all that we may have salvation in him What is our worship to Jesus tonight? You know sitting up here in the front tonight hearing everybody worship was a beautiful thing And I started thinking to myself Do I selflessly selfishly or selflessly worship my king? It's interesting that we see in verse five Judas's response I find it interesting that the first recorded utterance of Judas ever is he asks the question why This is a common response Of people who do not understand our worship and our love to Jesus Christ When we surrender our lives to and to our lord and savior Jesus the initial response of those who are who are watching by or seen us Will ask us why Why are you giving your all to Jesus? Why are you worshiping him? Why are you giving him tithe and offerings? Why do you do this and why do you do that? And this is what we see Judas saying here Why was this fragrant old not sold for 300 denari? We have those around us that don't understand our love and worship for Jesus Christ And they ask why Why not sell this money give it to the poor i bet Judas sounded Very impressive He sounded like he was sensitive He was he was not a bad guy and and I can imagine people saying oh look he has a concern for the poor He's such a good man But Judas was using his concern for the poor to decide to disguise his grief For Judas was a thief And in verse six we see That he's this he said not that he cared for the poor But because he was a thief and had the money box and he used he used to take what was put in it Mary was a selfless giving believer believer But Judas was a selfish greedy materialist To the heart that has never met God worship means the most impractical wasteful pursuit And Judas is a profile of hell But we look at verses seven and eight, but Jesus said let her alone. She has kept this for The the day of my burial for the poor you have with you always, but me you do not always have This reveals Mary's spiritual discernment many commentators believe that because of her devotion to Jesus and her worship to Jesus And sitting at the feet of Jesus that she had She had seen More than the rest that Jesus's death was approaching His disciples had no clue But Mary did why? Because she selflessly worshiped Jesus And was sitting at his feet What's your devotional life looking like? How's your time spending with the Lord? Only you can answer that And I've mentioned this before but a lot of times we have this mentality as we drive through a drive through at a fast food restaurant and we have that same mentality with our devotional life And it's no wonder we're in the desert It's no wonder we're in the wilderness And sometimes we have a busy schedule and we open up the bible and it says therefore my heart shall result in like a Heart of Moab Lord bless this time. Thank you Jesus Is that our worship for our king? You know pastor david was mentioning on on sunday that When we serve as an act of worship to our king There's a danger Of it becoming burdensome There's a danger for it to become Oh, I got to serve again And when our heart is in that place Spiritually we're in a dangerous place Because our worship for the Lord should be giving our worship to our king should be selfless. It's never about us And we see in verse nine Now a great many of the jews knew that he was there and he They came not for jesus Not for jesus' sake only but that they may also see lazarus whom he raised from the dead But the chief priest plotted to put lazarus to death also Because on account of him many of the jews went away and believed in jesus Lazarus has become jesus' star witness And I find this amazing because as we read through the gospels, we really don't find anything that That makes lazarus stand out He never seems to have said anything or Do anything worth recording in the gospels yet He ends up being one of the greatest star witnesses for jesus and why is that? The answer is not in what lazarus did for jesus rather it is what jesus has done for lazarus Even though we may not have the famous trace of being a genius or we may Have a little that we could only bring to jesus Yet if we were dead in our sins and And if a voice over us has cried out come forth And we have been risen to a newness of life and our king has said loosen and let him go So now that we are all set free Haven't we also become a star witness of jesus christ If we had the opportunity tonight to have everybody stand up and share What jesus has done in your life There would be evidence To support that jesus has changed your life And we have become star witnesses for jesus in every place that we're at We have become star witnesses of the great amazing grace that jesus has poured into our lives We have the The amazing testimony that jesus has set us free Look what jesus has done in your life Look at the amazing work that he's accomplished in your life You know martha was serving with all she had and Mary was pouring out all she had before jesus in a compassionate selfless act of worship Lazarus was an emblem of a new life in jesus and this is a remarkable complete picture Of what happens when jesus touches the lives of those around him our in our lives regardless of The range of years that has separated us from this event Regardless of the years of service that we have served regardless of the mental and intellectual and spiritual attainments There's one thing that should be foremost in our lives and it's that jesus christ has changed our lives Mary and martha both gave their best and and they both spread an aroma one with everyday acts of ordinary service And the other with exotic spike nard Both aromas came pouring in Into the lives out of dedication to jesus When we do that we can expect the fragrance of jesus to follow us Do we want our lives to be A fragrance to jesus and a blessings to others if so we need to get down on our knees and we need to Anoint him with our with well i couldn't do with my hair But we need to get on our knees and we need to anoint them and we need to give jesus our everything mary's worship And giving is a model for us to follow in our worship and giving And i want to take us through a little storyline as we wrap this up tonight I begin to think about When when mary came in because in mark chapter 14 it gives the same account, but it It changes a little bit because it says that The same woman mary comes in and she has a flask of Of spike nard and and she breaks the flask and she pours the oil over jesus's head And because it's oil And because we know that jesus has a beard because it tells us that his beard was plucked Then i imagine that the oil saturates his hair it saturates his beard and it saturates a little bit of his robe And then we see him wash the disciples feet in john chapter 13 And i wonder if he gets a whiff of that perfume And is reminded of how much mary loves him Then he sits at the dinner table with his disciples and and he tells them that the next time he Drinks of the fruit of the vine it will be with the niesen when they're in heaven And he breaks the bread and he gives them communion and and for the last time here on earth And i wonder if he gets a whiff of that perfume And is remanded of how much mary loves him Then he goes forth to the garden of gassembly and he's in anguish and turmoil He pleads with the father to take this cup from me Three times But nevertheless not my will but your will be done And i imagine he gets a whiff of that perfume And he's reminded of how much mary loves him The garden of gassembly where he struggled The sweats were like drops of blood His soul was exceedingly troublesome sorrowful And then when the soldiers take him away and they lead him to the high priest Before the crowd they they begin to spit in his face and they bring in they begin to hit him with open palms And i bet he gets a whiff of that perfume and is reminded of how much mary loves him Then he's taken to pilot and then to king hered and then be back to pilot and eventually he's scorched 39 times with a cat of nine tails you guys know this Where his flesh is ripped open and his blood is Is bleeding and his organs are exposed and and he's just shredded And it's interesting that isaia chapter 52 says that his visage was so marred that he'd even look like a man And i bet he gets a whiff of that perfume And is reminded of how much mary loves him beaten His beard plucked out What they would do is get a stick this long And then a stick they would have little Little stick sticking up And they would put it in his beard and twist it And then gank it His flesh would come off Then they would get a crown of thorns It's not this crown of thorns that we neatly see in hallmark pictures The crowns of briar thorns this big And they shove it on his head and hit him over the head With a stick And they pounded into his head And i bet he gets a whiff of that perfume And is reminded of how much mary loves him He's nailed to the cross He's hanging in shame bearing all the sin of the world and on his shoulders and before he takes his last breath He even shots out my god my god. Why have you forsaken me? And i'm wondering did he get a whiff of that perfume And was he reminded of how much mary loved him I get this feeling that when jesus smelled this perfume that mary poured on him He kept him going for his love for you His love for me You know, it's interesting to point out that at any time with the blood loss that jesus suffered and all the things that jesus went through It would have been I don't want to say normal or typical, but it would have been easy for him just to pass out there on the side And not take make it to the cross Because of the blood loss Medically He should have it should have happened that way, but it was his love for you that drove him to that cross You know, I also I have these ideas and And I think about when jesus was in the garden of gosemite and he's saying lord if it's possible take this cup from me And I wonder If he gets a flash of each one of our faces at that moment And says nevertheless not my will but your will because I love them Does your life And your worship for god leave a long lasting aroma to remind jesus how much you love him This is an area i'm working on And once again i'm reminded that this passage shares with us that Mary didn't use a tiny pinch of the spike nerd oil that she broke the whole flask and gave it her all And we could learn from this type of worship That when we worship jesus we need to give him our all And when we give our all to jesus as an act of worship the place that we're in will be filled with the fragrance Of the aroma of the oil The sweet smelling perfume the aroma of the fragrance of jesus that fills our life Our hearts And people see this What's your fragrance tonight? Is it a pleasing aroma to the lord? Or is it a stench? What's your worship for the lord like i'm telling you guys this is an area i'm working on John 12 3 says and the house was filled with the fragrance of oil When we worship Serve and give god our best to god Our fragrance will fill the room Do we want our lives to be a fragrance for our king? if so We need to get down on our knees at jesus's feet and anoint him And given him everything we have