Throwing a Party for Jesus Mark 14:1-11
Let’s take our Bibles together: Turn to Mark 14:1-11
It is great to be back with you this morning …
My wife and I have been Pastoring here … for 28 years … Sept 27th
… I think we have only taken a 3 week vacation … twice
… Vacations are awesome … 1weeks … 2 weeks … 3 weeks …
This morning I am going to share a message from my devotions …
… while on vacation … something I felt the Lord spoke to me
… this is kind of a personal word … I think it applies to all of us
… we have several things coming up as a church …
The Title of the Message: Throwing a Party for Jesus
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. 2"But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot."
3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
1 4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.
6"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
10Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Mark 14:1-11 (NIV)
I don’t know how familiar you are with where this story fits in the time line
… of Jesus ministry here on earth …
This event takes place … a little less than 72 hours before Jesus will be …
… arrested … beaten … spit upon … nailed to the cross
… which always amazes me … How Jesus was focused on loving people
… up until the very end of His life here on earth …
The woman who brings this alabaster jar … of expensive perfume …
… breaks it … pours it over Jesus head … and His feet …
… we are told in John’s gospel … Is Mary …
2 … this is the Mary … that was sitting at Jesus feet … listening to him …
… when her sister Martha … was SO busy getting ready for the feast
She was stressing over … napkins getting folded and gravy getting stirred
… everything being in the right place …
The feast was coming up … Feast were very important …
… specific preparations … and Jesus was there …
… She said Master … tell my sister … to help me
Jesus said … “Martha, Martha … you are distracted by so many things”
… Mary has chosen the good part … it will not be taken from her
… “Something more important than the Feast is here”
This is the same Mary … who’s younger brother Lazarus had grown ill …
… and died … just a few weeks earlier …
Mary and Martha had sent a message to Jesus … saying …
… “The one you love is sick” …
… They were certain everything would be OK when He arrived
But when Jesus arrived … Lazarus had already been dead 4 days …
… When Mary and Martha heard that Jesus arrived
… Mary was so angry … that Jesus hadn’t come in time to heal her brother
3 … She wouldn’t get up from where she was mourning …
… go out and see Him
I don’t know if you have ever been disappointed with God …
… or with how things worked in your life …
Martha … even though she was disappointed …
… Martha got up … put on her best face … went out to Jesus …
“Lord … if you had been here … Our brother wouldn’t have died …
… even now … I know God will give you whatever you ask …”
Although I don’t think she was ready for what Jesus was about to do
Jesus said to her in John 11:25 …
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies and who ever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
At that point … she didn’t really know what to say …
But she did say “I believe you are the Christ … the Son of the Living God”
… Which was huge … in the Monotheistic Jewish culture
At that point … Martha got up … went and got Mary …
She said … “Mary … the teacher is here.” … pull it together
4 Mary pulled it together … came out to where Jesus was …
… Her 1st words … “Lord if you had been here …”
Jesus response … where have you laid Him … they took Him there
… Jesus said … remove the stone … the air was sucked out of the room
… Lord … there will be a stench …
“Did I not tell you … if you believed … you would see the Glory of God?”
… what were they thinking?
… They rolled away the stone … Jesus said … “Lazarus come forth!”
… Lazarus comes forth … stumbling out of the tomb … wrapped in grave clothes …
… that was about a week before this event … at Simon the Lepers house
The Jewish leaders are beside themselves … Many people are believing
… Mary … is rocked to the core of her being …
“Who is this man Jesus … who raises the dead back to life …
… Who raised my brother back to life …
… and I was so angry at Him … I almost hated Him for a few moments
What is wrong with me … why am I so selfish … insecure …
… why didn’t I trust Him more …
Mary is sorting through a lot of things …
5 … when Jesus was at the home of Simon the Leper … later that week
… and Mary heard he was there …
… she took one of the most valuable to her … and did something
… very intimate to her as an expression of her love … worship
… it probably wasn’t that meaningful to the men around the table
… But there is more to that story … Judas …
We will talk about Mary a little more … in a moment …
… there are some things we can learn from Mary …
What about Simon the Leper …
…. This dinner … event … takes place at Simon the Lepers House
… That is interesting to me … that is what caught my attention …
… in my devotion time a week ago …
If you are familiar with Leprosy in Jesus day … Lepers weren’t allowed
…to be in public … if they owned a home … they weren’t allowed to be in it
If you were traveling … you came upon a Leper along the road …
… they had to declare … “Unclean!” …
I can’t imagine a more demoralizing … de-humanizing condition …
6 One of the things that said to me … right away in reading this …
… Simon wasn’t a Leper anymore …
Simon the Leper … this man … who was known as Simon the Leper
… Wasn’t a Leper anymore …
… My guess … Jesus had healed him … during His ministry
… it is possible that He was one of the Lepers … Jesus Healed
Jesus Healed Him … and He had been allowed to return home …
… Lepers had to show themselves to the priests …
Can you imagine what that was like for him …
… Walking down the road … re-entering the village …
… maybe his wife was out in front of the house …
When she saw Him coming … “That’s my husband … could it be?”
… When He sees her … Her eyes light up … his eyes light up …
… He runs … she runs …
… “I was a Leper … but I am not anymore!”
Simon the Leper is throwing a Party for Jesus …
7 Let me ask a Question: “Who were you … before you got saved?”
Everybody who knows Jesus has a testimony …
… “I once was lost but now I am found … was blind but now I see!”
Who were you … before you met Jesus …
… John the Adulterer … Tom the Drug addict
… Brad the manipulator …
… Wanda … the greedy … back stabber … control freak …
… The good news … you aren’t anymore …
… Jesus set you free … He washed you … He cleansed you
… It is time to throw a party for Jesus!
Before Cheryl and I headed out on vacation … July 19th …
… The was a service down in Veterans park …
… I was the preacher …
I told the story of a woman … several years ago …
… She had been coming for about a year …
… She had been a Christian for a few years before she came
She made an appointment … told me she had a terrible struggle with guilt
… condemnation … shame … self-hatred … “Debilitating”
8 She said … Pastor … I was a Prostitute when I was in college …
… She cried … I understood …
“We all have done stupid things … made bad decisions”
… what lead her to those decisions … I don’t know
The good news … Jesus came to set the captives free …
… “I asked if she believed God loved her … forgave her”
While an angry voice … suddenly came out her mouth …
… angry toward God … filled with hatred … self – hatred …
… “It was a Spirit” …
I recognized it … and confronted it … in Jesus name … she was delivered
… she became calm … peace …
… we talked through forgiveness again …
… we talked through forgiving herself …
It is hard to forgive ourselves … sometimes pride won’t let us
… we can’t get healed …
… we keep acting out in lust … anger … guilt .. self-hatred
… we lash out … we are violent …
“If we confess ours sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
9 This woman … wasn’t a prostitute anymore … Jesus set her free
… She was a child of God … co-heir with Christ …
… She was a leader … for a period of time in our church
Aren’t you glad … Jesus set us free … “It’s time to throw a party!”
Simon wasn’t a Leper anymore … Jesus was in the House!
… it is time to celebrate!
… “Hallelujah … Jesus is in the house”
I have a feeling this was a fun dinner … fun celebration …
… until the religious people got involved …
By the way … the one who stirred up the trouble … “Judas Iscariot”
… He was the keeper of the money box … used to steal
Simon the Leper wasn’t a Leper anymore …
… I don’t know who you were before you got saved …
… You aren’t that person anymore … Jesus set you free
If you are a person who struggles … being joy … it is time to be joyful
If you are a person who struggles with guilt … it is time to be forgiven
If you are a person who struggles with worry … it is time to be a peace
… Jesus set you free …
10 If you struggle with Lust … it is time for self-control …
If you struggle with anger … it is time for kindness to reign in your house
Let’s throw a party for Jesus!
Here’s what the Lord said to me … in my devotion while reading this …
… I don’t want you to think I am too spiritual …
… 3 weeks … 2 times … the Lord spoke personally …
… I wasn’t trying to be too spiritual … I was on vacation … resting
When I was reading this section … it was like the Lord said …
“Where is your joy?” … “Where is your love for me?”
… where is your sense of celebration …
I immediately knew what He was saying … I was cut to the heart …
… and I was drawn to Jesus … wanting to Love Jesus more …
The danger of middle – aged Christianity …
… we can get used to Christianity … get used to Jesus …
We forget who Jesus is … We lose the freshness of 1st love relationship!
… We start relying on our own wisdom
11 Did you know … the average Pastor in America spends only 30 minutes
… a week in devotion … not sermon preparation …
The average Christian spends less than 7 minutes a week in devotion time
I don’t want that to happen to me … I don’t want that to happen to us as …
… as a church …
Do you know How God changes us?
… How God truly changes our lives …
It starts with being born Again … We need a new heart …
… The Word of God … “Faith comes by hearing”
… “We need our minds renewed” …
Real change … deep change … comes through Worship …
… as though 2 things … bring us to a renewed place of worship
“Worship” … 2 Corinthians …
Now … here is the problem … we live in a culture …
… “Cultural Christianity”
We are comfortable with a eye dropper of God …
12 Acts 11 … read this last week with some friends
Barnabas was a good man. Full of the Holy Spirit and Faith. Acts 11:24
Faith is not a one-time decision … we live by faith … witness by faith …
… prophesy … preach … give … serve
… Faith is a living thing … Hebrews 11 … lived by faith
Being filled with the Spirit is not a onetime thing … “Be being filled”
Mary didn’t miss her opportunity … Jesus was in the house
… She took what she had …
… She took what was valuable to her …
… She poured it out on Jesus …
Expressing love to Jesus is important …
… Expressing Love to Jesus is what it is all about …
… Christianity is about Jesus Christ … Loving Him
Mary didn’t miss her opportunity …
Worship Team:
1. Do you have a Testimony? 2. Do you love Jesus? 3. Do you express it?
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