[0:00] Heavenly Father, we thank you that as we come to this portion of Mark that looks at the gradual abandonment of your Son, Lord, that in this time we will hold fast to him by your Spirit.
[0:16] Lord, that you would reveal to us what true worship looks like. And although on one hand it may seem very convicting because it is hard to worship you in the way that you would desire us to worship you, and yet you are a God that loves to extend mercy and grace and loves to patiently refine us and sanctify us and help us to grow in you.
[0:45] So Lord, may this morning be a time where we do just that. We grow in you. We learn from you. And as a result of all of it, we will worship you in the way that you'd want us to worship.
[0:57] In Jesus' name. Amen. If you want to follow along, we're in Mark chapter 14, verses 1 to 11. There's a stack of Bibles in the back, if you didn't bring yours.
[1:07] And there's also, I think there's a couple of the Black Gospel of Mark books. And it's just on one side, it's lined paper for taking notes.
[1:18] The other side, it's the text. And you're more than welcome to grab one of those and keep it. But if you can, please follow along. So here we are. We've just wrapped up chapter 13.
[1:30] Chapter 13 had a lot of prophecy about the end of the age. And if I'm honest, it was a bit of a, I felt like I was walking into landmines in dealing with it.
[1:40] And yet, going into this week, chapter 14, great relief in a sense from being finished talking about end times. But now we enter into the very heavy portion of scripture where Jesus begins, in a sense, his passion.
[1:53] Where he gets abandoned gradually. And Judas Iscariot will be the first one to abandon him. As we'll see in verse 11. So just a bit of a background here. Jesus has spent time in Jerusalem.
[2:06] The triumphal entry happens in chapter 11. And he begins these indictments against the false worship that's happening in Jerusalem. And, I mean, he does not speak cryptically at all.
[2:18] He just goes right for it. And attacks the religious leaders for negating their responsibility to the people of God. In 13, chapter 13, he leaves Jerusalem.
[2:32] He goes to the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. And he pronounces the fall of Jerusalem. But also connects it, like I said, to the end of the age. And it's a bit of that end times theology that we looked at.
[2:44] The prophecy of Jesus. Now, he is in Bethany. Bethany is just outside of the city limits. And the Passover is fast approaching. He is at a place, we don't know exactly where in Bethany.
[2:59] But he's at Simon the Leper's house. And interestingly about Simon the Leper, two things that are of note. Whenever you see these seemingly random names in the Bible, they're like ancient footnotes.
[3:12] Mark is writing for contemporaries. So the idea would be if somebody is skeptical, because skepticism existed 2,000 years ago, they could find Simon the Leper and verify it.
[3:24] Or they could find somebody that knew Simon the Leper and acted as an ancient footnote. Also, what's interesting is that Simon is called Simon the Leper. But we know that lepers have no place in society because they're contagious.
[3:39] So maybe it would be better to understand Simon as the former Leper. Because here he is, seemingly a part of society hosting people. Something that would never have happened if he still had leprosy.
[3:55] So, did Jesus connect with him? Was he a recipient of the grace and healing and mercy of our Lord Jesus? It would seem likely. So, Jesus is there.
[4:07] The preparations are being made for the Passover. And Jerusalem here is getting swollen. By the time the Passover will come, the population of Jerusalem will be five times what it is in normal times.
[4:21] It's a pilgrimage holiday. People are coming there to worship. And with the pilgrimage come the messianic fervor. However, the people, by and large, are not okay with Roman rule.
[4:37] And there is always the potential for rioting to happen. People are looking for God to liberate them. So, with all that as a bit of a background, Jesus reclines at the table of Simon the Leper.
[4:52] And we can jump into the text in verses 1 and 2. It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleathered Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
[5:07] For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar by the people. So, the religious leaders, their hatred of Jesus continues to grow.
[5:17] So, the first instance of their desire to kill Jesus comes in chapter 3 of Mark, where the Pharisees and the Herodians have colluded to figure out a way to destroy Jesus.
[5:34] And here it continues on. And there's a few other parts in the narrative where the religious leaders are here to, have gathered to destroy Jesus. And what they want to do here in verses 1 and 2 is to make sure that they take Jesus out in such a way as to not somehow elevate his messianic claims, nor to start some kind of riot which would result in further Roman occupation.
[6:02] They're crafty. One of the things it says here in verse 1 is they were looking for ways to arrest him by stealth. They, this is like murderous intent in the first degree.
[6:16] This has been planned out for weeks and months, maybe even years. And they are trying to avoid any kind of situation where it's going to result in more oppression or more of an elevation of Jesus.
[6:30] So, here they are as Israel's religious leaders. And their job, and this is where Jesus attacks them back in chapter 11 and 12, their job is to lead God's people to truth, to the scriptures, to the hope of the good news that God will not just liberate them from Rome, but liberate them from sin and from death.
[6:55] And here they are plotting to kill the very one that the scripture points to. It is a remarkable thing. And just on the side, I don't have this in my notes, kind of have to figure out what to cut, what to keep.
[7:07] But notice here it doesn't say all the Jews. It's like some kind of like blanket general statement against Jewish people. With the history of the church, unfortunately, the Jews have been called Christ killer.
[7:18] But in fact, here it makes it very clear, it is the chief priests and the scribes, the religious leaders that are at work here. And in a sense, because of sin, Jesus dying for our sins, we are the ones responsible for his death as well.
[7:32] It's an aside. That's not what we're going to get into, but I'll just bring that up. So the religious leaders, the backbone of Israel, they are doing Israel a huge disservice.
[7:44] They're doing God's people a huge disservice here. And in classic Mark fashion, he's going to show how deeply wrong they are by contrasting the religious elites, the scribes, and the chief priests to another figure.
[8:04] And in this case, it's going to be an unnamed woman. It's significant that he does it. And through this contrast, he's going to show us and his readers what extravagant and costly worship looks like.
[8:17] The worship that God desires, what it really looks like. And that's what we're going to be exploring this morning. So three points for clarity's sake. We're going to be looking at what true worship is.
[8:29] And the first thing is that it is costly and selfless. The second thing is that true worship is rooted in the gospel and the triune God. And the last thing is that true worship is rooted in the sovereign will of God.
[8:43] So true worship is costly and selfless. It's rooted in the gospel and the triune God. And the last is it is rooted in the sovereign will of God.
[8:55] So let's look at the first one. True worship is costly and selfless. So we'll return back to the narrative. Jesus is in Bethany. He's reclining at this table with the guests of Simon.
[9:06] It would not be uncustomary for the host to have some kind of perfume or something to wash the feet, to mask the smell. This is 2,000 years ago.
[9:17] Air conditioning is not invented. It's getting hot. People don't bathe every day. You don't want to eat with this smell. So it would not be... It would be customary for there to be some kind of perfume or ointment to mask the smell.
[9:34] And we'll jump into the text now. And we'll see how, on one hand, it seems customary what's happening. On the other hand, it seems completely lavish and over the top.
[9:45] So look with me in verses 3 and following. And while he, Jesus, was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over Jesus' head.
[10:04] So in walks this woman. She's unnamed. Mark keeps her unnamed. In the tradition, she might be Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
[10:16] But Mark keeps her unnamed. And I think he does that for a purpose. So she is simply unnamed. She's a woman interrupting men. Not a problem necessarily in our day, except for maybe it would be rude for anybody to interrupt anybody.
[10:33] But in this case, it's a woman who has lower status. She is unnamed. And she is interrupting a group of men sitting at table. That's a problem.
[10:44] She likely, because of her little status, has this expensive jar of perfume. And because she has little status, it's unlikely that this is something that she just picked up at the market.
[10:57] But it's a good possibility that's a family heirloom. Something that's been passed down. Something of great worth. It's something of a bit of a rainy day savings.
[11:11] So if crops fail or something happens, they have something so precious and expensive that they could trade it for food. But by and large, we can understand that this jar of ointment, it was very costly and very important.
[11:25] Potentially her most important item that she had. It had deep, deep value. And notice too that she doesn't just dab a little bit on a rag or just pour a little bit on Jesus' head and rub it around.
[11:40] What does she do? She takes the flask and she breaks it. She smashes it. There's no going back. There's no collecting the drippings. Everything that she has in this flask, this family heirloom, this very pricey item, it is spent completely and wholly on Jesus alone.
[12:00] It is something that is, I think, hard to understand because later on we see that the cost of this would be a year's wage.
[12:12] I don't know what the average median income is, but imagine an item, tens of thousands of dollars, just spent in one shot. I'm not sure we can quite grasp it, but whatever you hold dear, you give it away.
[12:24] Okay, imagine you finally, you know, your days of buying a used car, they're over. You're buying a new car for the first time.
[12:36] Maybe this isn't applying to anybody, but you know, you've spent tens of thousands of dollars on a car and you cash it in, you send it back, you sell it, and you take whatever money you've made and you give it away.
[12:47] It's hard to fathom that because it's so bizarre. You never see that in our culture, in our city. Maybe you know somebody who's done something kind of like it, but by and large it seems so outlandish and this is what this woman is doing.
[13:02] And it is an act of deep worship and devotion. It is costly to this woman. Her worship was indeed costly.
[13:13] She spent everything she had on Jesus. But what's interesting here is that the cost of the perfume isn't what is commended. It is her faith and her heart that is turned towards Christ.
[13:26] Interestingly, if you go back in chapter 13, there is, or sorry, in the end of chapter 12, there's a very similar scene with another woman who is also unnamed, but in this case she's a widow and she's at the temple and she has two coins and Jesus makes it very clear that that's all she had and she gave it to God.
[13:49] And in a sense, with the widow and with this unnamed woman, with this jar of pure nard, they are spending all that they have and really kind of burning all the bridges.
[14:02] They're not making a contingency plan as they are entering into what it means to serve and love God. They are not hedging their bets. Maybe it's not going to work out if I worship the Lord.
[14:15] If I put my hope in Him, He might fail. I should come up with a backup plan. None of that. But in both cases, and especially in here with the breaking of the flask of ointment, there's no going back.
[14:30] All the eggs are in the Jesus basket, so to speak. This level of devotion is complete. It's whole. It is all in.
[14:43] Completely all in. And constantly we have seen in Mark, oftentimes what's interesting is, in Mark, the vast majority of instances where women are in the narrative, it's vastly positive in terms of their faith in how they are approaching Jesus.
[15:06] But we see the rich man who comes to Jesus in chapter 10, who comes up to Him and says, like, look at me. Look at all the things that I have done.
[15:17] I am charitable. I am righteous. And Jesus says to him, sell everything you have and follow me. And because his heart was wanting to be righteous in a way that would kind of bolster his own reputation or not necessarily infringe on his own rights, it says that the man went away with great sorrow because he had many possessions.
[15:43] Here, this woman is saying, in a sense, to hell with my reputation, to hell with my hopes and other things. I am trusting wholly in Jesus.
[15:54] And it is, I don't know, I mean, in some ways, I come to this text and I want to, I mean, I haven't lived a long life, in a sense. I haven't gone through a ton of trials.
[16:06] The people that, I think I've mentioned this in the past, the people that have died in my life have been older. I haven't gone through difficult situations. And my temptation is to speak of a type of moderation when it comes to religious fervor.
[16:22] And this text is blowing that out of the water. And, and the zeal that it's calling for, the devotion that it's calling for, is, I mean, you could try to explain it away in some kind of roundabout, find a loophole, find something, I don't know, but, the text is quite clear that this woman's devotion is total.
[16:47] and it is not just a description of what is happening, but it's a prescription for us. And it is hard, I'll be honest, as, just personally, but also, as a pastor who is opening God's word to say to the congregation, this is what true worship looks like.
[17:08] Because, I would put forward, I would, I would ask you guys, I'd put forward to you that this isn't my true worship. I have contingency plans. I'm hedging my bets.
[17:19] I don't think that way, but I, or I don't, I don't actively talk that way, but I think that way. Maybe you do too. And yet, here we have it very clear that this woman's faith is commended.
[17:34] The woman with two coins, her faith is commended, her worship is commended, because there's a devotion to it that is completely on, on Jesus. So, worship, worshiping God calls for every aspect of our life.
[17:52] And, there's aspects that are respectable to give to the Lord, but there's other aspects that might not be respectable, or they would infringe too much on our own desires and hopes. When I was, when I was in the early stages of planting, I met up with as many pastors and ministry leaders as I could.
[18:10] not to get like money or anything, but I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, share. Like, what have, what have, what's been your experiences? I want to hear stuff. And, it's interesting what people will, like people will agree to meet you with, meet with you if, you know, they're going to be talking about their own experiences.
[18:27] So, a lot of people took me up on the offer. But, one pastor said, the, some of the other gods that, that his people worship, among them are the gods of minor hockey.
[18:41] And, I heard that and I was like, oh my goodness, interesting. I didn't have, I mean, we have kids. I think Nora was the only one at the time. But, all too often, we want to give, say our children, the best opportunities.
[18:55] We want to have the best opportunities. And, those opportunities aren't necessarily bad, but they conflict. I'm not picking on minor hockey. I think minor hockey is great. But, they, but they conflict.
[19:06] And, we have an opportunity to either relegate God, and we're not necessarily talking about church, but that's a part of it, but to relegate God to the, to the fringes, so that we can flourish in the ways that we want to flourish.
[19:19] Or, we have to sacrifice certain things. Or, engage with them in a way that is not all in. So, it's not just minor hockey, it's anything.
[19:35] Moderation often is the key to life, but in Christianity, moderation is the cry of the defeated Christian. And, that's, that's, anyways, I, I kind of, I say it in a, in a, in a very, I humbly put that forward to you because, I mean, it cuts deep to me as well.
[19:52] And why? Why is moderation the cry of the defeated Christian? Because the Christian faith is a, is a, is a faith of selfless, self-giving, self-denying, trusting love. And how on earth can that be given in moderation?
[20:06] How can you love somebody in moderation? And if you feel, like, the weight of that, I think that's good. Now, we're not going to stay feeling, like, guilted down. We want, we want the gospel to liberate us because it is the message of freedom.
[20:22] But moderation is, I mean, I'm going to, I'm going to moderately love Christine. I mean, I probably do, I don't mean to, it's because I'm a sinful man, but, but moderation in relationships, it's, I mean, I, you feel it.
[20:39] You feel like you're second fiddle to whatever else. We need to be honest with ourselves about what true worship is. So worship that is true, that God accepts it, it is costly.
[20:53] And it's not, as we've seen, about a monetary value, but it's about a generosity of heart that is, that is rooted in selfless, self-giving, self-denying, and trusting love. So the generosity and devotion and worship of this unnamed woman has up till now, and for the rest of Mark, it is worship par excellence.
[21:15] It is, it is the standard of worship in all of Mark's account, in his narrative. There is, there is nothing in a sense, I mean, you could couple it in a, with, with the, with the widow in chapter 12, but really this woman, she is worshiping in the way that, that is held at the highest esteem.
[21:34] Not the disciples. Those that have been traveling with Jesus, hearing what he has to say time and time again. it is not the disciples, it is this woman.
[21:46] And a reason for this is that the disciples have still yet to grasp that Jesus is destined for the cross as the Passover lamb that will take away the sins of the world. So of course, the disciples do not see this as an act of legitimate worship to imitate or to applaud, but rather a show of complete waste.
[22:05] Remember, Jesus, he has talked about his death plainly. Chapter 8, it is kind of like the pinnacle in a sense of, of, of Mark's narrative. And he asks the disciples, who do people say that I am?
[22:18] And they list off a bunch of names, but who do you say that I am? You are the Christ. Peter says that and then Jesus goes on to talk about how the Christ has to die and suffer. And what does Peter do? He starts rebuking Jesus.
[22:30] Same word here of the disciples rebuking this woman. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. Peter, you are, you are proclaiming a gospel of Satan, which is no gospel at all.
[22:43] And the disciples seem to, they seem to not quite grasp this, but it is always, it seems like, the one on the fringe, the fringes, they are the ones that get it in Mark's account.
[22:54] And this woman is one of them. So the true worship that we see, it is costly. It's lavish. But also, it is rooted in the gospel and the triune God.
[23:07] Look with me in verses 4 to 9. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, I'll pause really quickly here.
[23:19] Those some, I mean, includes other people, but it, those people that are indignant here are the disciples. It's very clear in the narrative and especially in verses 10 and 11 when Judas takes off, that the indignant ones are the disciples.
[23:35] So I'll start with verse 4 again. There were some who said to them, to themselves, indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.
[23:50] And they scolded her. Other translations, they rebuked her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them.
[24:06] But you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.
[24:22] Isn't that interesting that we are reading and legitimizing Jesus' words this morning? I mean, this happened just outside of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
[24:33] We're in Ottawa in 2023 and Jesus' words are ringing true in verse 9. Jesus knows that he's headed to the cross.
[24:45] He has spoken about this in parables and plainly I mentioned about chapter 8. His death is the critical component to the gospel. That good news that ushers in the kingdom of God.
[24:57] repent and believe in the gospel. Chapter 1 verses 15. It's the thesis in a sense of all of Mark's narrative of Jesus' life. So what this woman is doing by way of the Holy Spirit's prompting is doing a wondrous deed to Jesus to the Son of God that recognizes his immeasurable worth but also recognizes that suffering is connected to the gospel because she is preparing him for burial.
[25:27] That no mere man goes to the cross but the incarnate God will die for the salvation of all those who trust in him. So we have the Son Jesus accomplishing the will of the Father being anointed for burial by a woman who has been prompted by the Holy Spirit.
[25:46] I mean this woman unnamed woman she is clearly she clearly has affections a deep longing to connect with Jesus and to know Jesus' delight in her life.
[26:01] This is the work of the Holy Spirit. So here already again not necessarily explicitly but very much implicitly we see the triune God at work in the good news the gospel of Jesus.
[26:16] That true worship must always be rooted in the good news that the triune God has come to save his people. So worship must ultimately be about God and what he has proclaimed. That means our agendas our style of work not necessarily style but the substance of our worship is not really up for debate.
[26:35] We can worship God in different styles absolutely and that's part of that whole Holy Catholic Church that we alluded to. But when it comes to who God is and what he has done the substance the content of the faith that's not really up for debate.
[26:54] That is why the indignation of the disciples is more egregious than their contempt for the woman. Indignantly they scolded and rebuked her but really they have expressed indignation towards Jesus himself.
[27:11] They have like Peter back in chapter 8 have affirmed Jesus as the Christ but have I mean their brains in a sense they're absent of what the good news is and how it's completely connected to suffering.
[27:27] That at the core of what it is for the good news is Jesus to die upon the cross. And this connection between the life of faith and sacrifice it seems wasteful and completely unpragmatic to those that have not been considering or searching or prompted by the Holy Spirit.
[27:47] And in a sense it is what this woman is doing is very what's pragmatic about it? One man gets oil that might stick with him for a few days besides he's going to die.
[28:00] I mean sell the oil. It's tens of thousands of dollars. Feed the poor. I mean the Passover was supposed to be a time where you extend charity. So there's nothing pragmatic about what she's doing.
[28:13] But for us if we if we have put our faith and hope and trust in Jesus we are seeing that she is participating in the gospel itself. That how can you waste something on Jesus as if his worthiness kind of hits a ceiling so we can only give him so much but then he's not really worth it to keep going or to keep giving him praise to keep giving him honor.
[28:41] to pour out our lives for him it's not worth it. This woman she understands the worthiness of Jesus and she understands that sacrifice is deeply connected to the gospel.
[28:55] So the disciples and the woman are completely at odds and through this contrast we see that true worship it must be rooted in truth of who God is and what he has come to do or else worship or else it's a false worship it's them worshipping something else or in part which isn't true worship.
[29:19] So the Christian faith has always and must always be rooted in truth in the gospel in the triune God and this must be revealed to each and every one of us by the Holy Spirit just like this woman.
[29:30] That doesn't mean it's going to be easy. I mean I think we touched on this earlier in the sermon. Worshipping God in the ways that he has called us to it is costly it is difficult because by and large it goes against the message the predominant message of this city of this country of our culture it's difficult it is we find ourselves in a sense being sympathetic to the disciples this doesn't make sense this isn't pragmatic this isn't furthering my goals and yet this is the way that God has called us to worship so what do we do how do we live for him how do we navigate all this I think deep down and this is why we've seen it in the liturgy repentance is a key part of the Christian life because we are bound to mix up our priorities we are bound to chicken out and I'll just say this
[30:34] I went to visit family in 2017 and at the time I wasn't a pastor I was an intern a dear dear intern but before that when I visited my family I worked as a support worker for people with special needs and I worked on Parliament Hill I had a secular job and I was fine to go as a Christian to visit my family who are not Christians at all various degrees of religiosity but not in the Christian faith so I could go there and I could just get along we could talk about work it was fine but when I went in 2017 to visit all of a sudden I worked for the church and the temptation to not worship God in my life to downplay my devotion to him to change a subject really quickly or to I don't know whatever I was studying in seminary oh I'm doing graduate work or something like that the temptation was high and I was there for less than a week sometimes
[31:38] I was faithful to the Lord in how I in a sense bore witness to him how I worshipped him and very uncomfortable conversations and other times I chickened out and I felt like trash I really did this life is not easy to worship God in spirit and in truth according to who he is and what he has done because the world is against us in a sense so what do we do we ask for forgiveness we encourage one another we feast in a sense on God's word but also on testimonies of each other and saints from the past we really we pray for one another and trust that people are praying for us and that Jesus himself is making intercession for us right now to bolster us up and to remember too that when we fail the story is not over we continue we repent we continue on so it's not easy to worship
[32:39] God in spirit and in truth according to who he is and what he has done but we can be confident that as we do so that he will honor his word that what he values and his will will always come to pass it will never be thwarted it will never expire it will never rust because God is sovereign overall and this brings us to our third point about true worship that it is rooted in the sovereign will of God look with me verses 1 and 2 and then 10 and 11 of chapter 14 it was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him for they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar from the people and verse 10 then Judas Iscariot who was one of the twelve went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them and when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money and he sought an opportunity to betray him remember that the religious elites are looking for a way to snuff out
[33:51] Jesus in a quiet way and rob him of his messianic credibility and yet their plan it would seem that it was for post Passover Passover would last about a week post Passover it gets turned on his head Judas comes indignant one of the indignant ones indignant at what has been happening and who knows how long he has been just rattled at Jesus he's had enough clearly and he goes to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them and they see an opportunity that they cannot give up and although they wanted to wait until after the Passover to betray the betrayal of Judas presents an opportunity for them to nab Jesus early and they're not gonna they're gonna embrace this this is an opportunity who knows maybe it's God's will in their minds but in doing so Jesus will go to the cross not after the Passover but on the Passover as the
[34:56] Passover lamb that he has that he has prophesied about that it has been written in the scriptures that he fulfills the scriptures so he goes to the cross not as some common criminal but as the Passover lamb as the innocent one who would be slain so that death would pass over all people we see we'll get this next week this would be the the last supper but in verse 12 and on the first day of unleavened bread when the sacrifice when they sacrifice the Passover lamb it's very interesting little markers like that in scriptures we know that something's at work Jesus is in fact that Passover lamb that the sovereign plan of God can never be upended it can't be thwarted and this is a great hope for us because it means that when our faith is put in the one who will win and has won that means we win even if the tide is coming against us and everything is claiming that we are misguided at best the victory is already won and because God's sovereign will can never be thwarted it means that our hope in him all of our spent beautiful flask of nard whatever that is in our lives that we're willing to give up it is not wasted that it is for a purpose and that that God's plan will always come to fruition it also means that when our faith falters or we begin to doubt that the devotion is worth it we can be sure that God's promises will come to pass we can be sure of that we can encourage one another like we mentioned previously that God will he will come through on the things that he has promised us he will give us strength in our time of need that even in the difficulties and the sufferings that are so germane to the life of faith will be used for good so that so that we can be sure any evil or suffering that we go through will be for God's glory in the end no act of faith will be wasted it's interesting that woman did not waste not a drop of that nard nor will any of our worship be wasted on the Lord so to wrap things up the thing about this episode is that the woman poured out her life poured out her life onto Jesus figuratively speaking but in only a couple days
[37:28] Jesus will hang on the cross in his literal life his blood will pour out and it will cover over his people that have put their trust in him and they will be made completely completely ready but not for a burial but for a banquet that those that have been covered in the blood of Christ in the same way that the angel of death passed over the houses with the blood on the doorposts so death will pass over us but not just so that we can live forever that we can live in glory with God forever and this is our hope so when we are afraid that we will miss out in this life let us think about the life to come that it will be far greater than anything anything that we could give up in this life Christ has already provided for our eternity let us in response to him worship with selfless devotion in the truth of who he is and what he has done and also trust in his sovereign will let's pray
[38:33] Heavenly Father thank you for this wonderful woman and we thank you that that you promised that the testimony of what she did for you would be proclaimed wherever the gospel would be proclaimed and this morning that has been fulfilled we thank you and Lord we recognize that true worship is difficult and we ask for your help Lord give us the strength we need to worship you when it hurts Lord that we won't be people that that engage in in moderation in our love and worship for you but Lord also give us the strength to do it we are feeble at best we need your strength we need your power so Lord by your Holy Spirit do just that in our lives we pray this in Christ's name Amen Amen