Lent: Being Loved and Getting to Worship

Now, John chapter 11, we read how Jesus has come into this family crisis.

John 11 · chapter mention

He shows up into this family crisis.

We have Lazarus, who's sick and dying, and Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha.

And Jesus loved these people.

The text says that he loved this family.

He knew these.

These were his friends.

Eventually, Lazarus dies.

Jesus never went to see him.

Lazarus dies.

And then after the death, Jesus goes and Jesus shows up.

The two sisters hear that Jesus is coming.

Martha goes out to greet Jesus, but Mary doesn't go.

Mary doesn't go out to greet Jesus.

You have to wonder why Mary not going out to greet her friend?

Well, she just lost her brother.

Maybe she's just too sad.

Or maybe she's sad and most likely also hurt.

Because she felt like Jesus could have come earlier.

Could have done something.

Right?

Could have done something about all this hurt.

But he didn't.

You know this feeling probably.

It might be sort of like if you're constructing a thousand-piece puzzle, right?

And you've been working on this thousand-piece puzzle and you've been working away at it.

You're just a few pieces away from this great feat, and it's on the you know the coffee table in your den, and you're you're so close to it.

And just to make make it a little bit more lifelike, let's also, so at the same same time, your boss has berated you, your mom has like judgmentally like made that few comments upon you, and your sweet someone or spouse or whoever they uh you've been hoping and working for them to change because you want them to change.

They're not changing, so life's just not working out.

But you you have you have this puzzle, right?

And you're like, if I can't get anything else together, I can at least, I can at least accomplish this puzzle.

I will have this puzzle, I will get this puzzle done just when you're working your way to the end of your three-year-old son or your three-year-old grandson or nephew or neighbor, whoever, he shows up with his grubby little hands and he walks up and he looks you in the eye and he puts his hands on that puzzle and hew! He just flings it off, right?

And pieces go everywhere, and they bounce into the kitchen, under the fridge, they're all over the place.

And you are fuming.

It was the only thing you had left.

You were counting on this.

And you're frustrated, right?

And you're sad for what you lost, you're sad for all this mess, not just the puzzle, but all of it, right?

You're not sure any of it can be repaired.

You're at the end of yourself.

Right?

I'm just trying to get you to feel something.

You're at the end of yourself.

This is probably how Mary felt.

Her brother was sick.

The person that she put hope in didn't show up.

Then he shows up late.

And that's what we get in John 11.

We get Mary undone.

And it's then in that undone that Jesus meets her.

And when he meets her, what's interesting is he doesn't lecture her about her lack of faith.

Like, oh, you love little faith.

Like, why aren't you more faithful through your brother's death?

You know, like, oh you he doesn't do that at all.

He he cries with her.

He cries with her.

And it begs the question like, what if in all the places, what if in all the places you think you're getting a lecture from God, or you think you're going to get a lecture from God?

What if actually God is just waiting to be with you and cry with you over that loss, that mistake, that shame, that failure, that sin.

Now, if you know the story, Jesus shows up, he redeems the whole situation.

He raises Lazarus back to life, and this is one of his big miracles that validated his deity.

And it's all leading into this cross and this resurrection, because in John 11, 25, he says, I am the oh, you see that?

You see that?

He thought that was fancy stuff.

I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

Christy and I are still survivor nerds.

Uh it's still showing, it's still airing.

I don't know if you know, it's 38 seasons.

Like it's still going on.

98% of you quit watching 15 years ago.

But it won't go away.

It's still there, and we're in it.

Like we're into the tribes and we're into the immunity challenges.

We love Joe.

I don't know if y'all love Joe, if you know Joe is.

He's a Joe's a stud, he wins everything.

Like we love Joe.

And we love immunity idols, that's always really exciting.

And if you remember how it works, because most of you quit watching, uh, if you remember how it works, uh, the tribe that loses the immunity challenge has to go to tribal.

When you go to tribal, the tribe has to vote out one of your own.

So you all write on these cards and then they put them in the little pot, and then Jeff reads them name by name.

And as he as he reads, it's just their faces, you know, all your name's called.

You're like, oh no, you look around, like, you know, you didn't see it coming, you know, and that's how you get voted out.

You didn't see it coming.

Always.

And then the dreadful thing happens, right?

Name's called, dreams are demolished, and maybe you needed the money.

Maybe maybe you're in the situation where you really needed this, you really needed this million dollars.

Or maybe you just love the game.

Or maybe you felt betrayed.

And Jeff looks you in the eyes, he puts out your torch, you know, it's very dramatic, and he says, Oh, the tribe has spoken.

And then you you go past Jeff, you walk down this path.

This is the loser's path, this is the path of death.

You're out of the game.

There's nothing left here.

Game's over.

Only the rejected walk down this path.

But, hey, this year, season 38.

It's different, right?

Like we have to do something different to keep the thing going.

It's different because at the end of the path, just when death is certain, there's a sign.

Who's watching?

Is anybody?

Oh, more than I thought.

Just this side of the room.

I don't know it was weird.

There's a sign.

And it says, if you want to keep playing the game, go to the left and get in the boat.

And what's amazing is this walk down this path, because it's the path of rejection and death, you're out of the game.

And they're frustrated.

Like at this point, like everybody reacts a little differently.

Some people are like, they're confused, what just happened?

Or some people are angry, some people, some people just immediately, they're sad.

They're just immediately, but all of them are sad.

All of them are sad.

And then all of a sudden, they see the sign and everything changes.

Because they've been redeemed.

That's why.

Like all the sudden, something happened outside of them and it's given to them.

They did nothing for it.

They couldn't have caused it, they didn't see it coming.

Like it was the survivor gods spoke into their life and it showed up.

This proclamation showed up.

You see, redemption's always received.

That's what redemption is.

The boat takes these players to Redemption Island.

Redemption's always received.

And this is like our redemption in Jesus, the death that was due to us, right?

Passed us over.

Somebody else made provision for us.

So this is a thought coming into John 12, verse 1.

John 12:1

Six days before the Passover, so hold on to that, Jesus came to Bethany.

So this is what's going on.

There's something going on here in the community.

Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

We just talked about all of that.

Here's point number one.

We're all looking for Passover.

We're all looking for Passover.

And Jesus is our Passover.

So a little Bible study here is that centuries before Israel was captive in Egypt, God finally hears the prayers of the Israelites and begins to move on their behalf.

And he says, okay, here's the deal.

There's going to be this huge, horrible plague that's going to help cause your release.

And here's the deal.

Anyone who doesn't sacrifice a lamb, take the blood and put it over the doorframe.

I know it's weird.

It's very ancient, right?

It's not our culture.

Put the blood on the doorframe.

If you have that blood on the door frame, death will pass you over, and you'll live.

And so that's what happens, and this helps free the Israelites.

And so Passover festival is birthed out of this.

Once a year to celebrate this deliverance and God's liberation of the people.

And so Jesus is here, this festival in mind, this history in mind.

And he says, I'm the resurrection and I'm the life.

And he's saying, I'm I'm your Passover.

Like I'm I'm that blood.

I'm the blood on the doorframe.

So death will pass you over.

Judgment will pass you over.

There's no death upon your sin.

Your sin and death is taken upon me on the cross.

My blood provides for you.

Eternal life, and righteousness is given to you.

And this is our point.

This is the point that we're all looking for Passover.

We all want judgment to pass us over.

We all want righteousness to come to us, justification for our lives and ourselves and our souls.

We all want this.

We just don't know where to get it.

And Jesus says, You're all searching for Passover.

I'm your Passover.

I'm your Passover.

You don't have to keep making sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice.

Verses 2 and 3.

Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor.

Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

That'd be interesting.

He just came back to life.

I don't know what that conversation is like.

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume.

She poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Point number two is this perfume is wonderful for perfume.

But don't make perfume your Savior.

And here's what I'm talking about.

Mary breaks open this jar, maybe it says it's probably a year's wages.

I don't know,$50,000,$75,000 worth of perfume.

I mean, it's the most precious thing they had in their home.

She finds the most expensive, precious thing she can get, and she pours it out on his feet, right?

She's saying, like, you can you can have this.

You are worth this.

Right?

The bridge into our lives is saying, like, my job, my dream, the dream of my job, the dream of my family, the dream of my romantic life, my my aspirations, my coping, my escapes.

You can you can have this.

Where else am I loved like this?

Where else am I actually passed over?

And there's this response, like, how ridiculous.

Like, what a what a waste.

What a waste.

Oh my gosh.

I mean, can you imagine sitting there and you'd see something like that happen?

You go, like, you just get$50,000.

You just poured out$50,000.

Like, why didn't you get like something else?

$50,000 of perfume.

And the point is not one of money.

It really has nothing to do with money.

It's about what you give ultimate worth to in your life.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor?

The Mr.

Rogers documentary that came out last year, won some awards.

Really fantastic documentary.

There's this one scene, it's right when his show becomes super popular.

It's being filmed in Pittsburgh.

It kind of hits, it's starting to hit a lot.

A lot of people are starting to know about it.

And the local PBS chapter there in Pittsburgh, they decide to open the doors to the public to come, and you can come and meet Mr.

Rogers.

And they think, well, maybe a hundred people will show up or something, right?

Like they're not quite sure exactly what they're gonna get, but they thought this might be a nice way to open the doors and let some kids meet Mr.

Rogers.

And so they let it be known on the news and everything, and that Saturday morning, there is a line of people, parents and children, all the way down the block, around the block.

And then they show these clips of all these children coming in, and they're all sitting in front of sitting in front of Mr.

Rogers.

Anybody grow up on Mr.

Rogers?

Right?

Can you imagine when you were little, like if you saw him right in front of you?

And their faces, I mean, it and he's giving them, he is giving them complete undivided attention.

And their faces in reaction are complete admiration, complete awe, complete amazement.

And in a way, it's a tiny, it's a tiny glimpse of worship in a way.

I mean, these little kids are like, my my feelings matter to this man?

Like when my feelings don't matter to my my brother or my sister or my mom or my dad, like this this man is telling me constantly that my feelings matter.

This man is telling me constantly that I'm loved.

And he's right here, like he's right in front of me.

So of course these children are in awe.

All of us worship.

None of us have a worship problem.

We all worship something.

We worship that which we love.

We worship that which we think loves us, or at least it gives value to us.

Our problem is knowing that which truly loves us without condition, and that which deserves our love and worship in return.

And this is when we understand Mary.

Because this all of a sudden she gets.

All of a sudden she goes, you love me like that?

You would cry with me?

You would come into my hurt, into my pain, into my lack of faith.

You'll hear me.

Oh, you're the resurrection life, you're gonna die for me?

You're gonna be my Passover?

Have my perfume.

Have it all.

Have my heart.

Have my quiet moments, have my loud moments, have it all.

Just have my life.

And point number three is this extravagant worship comes in the wake of extravagant love.

I don't have to give you a lot of tips on how to worship if we can begin to understand how much God loves us.

All of a sudden you begin to worship.

I begin to worship.

I read a quote a few months ago, about a month ago or so.

It's by the theologian J.I.

Packer.

Here's a bit of that quote.

There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God, and the thought that for some unfathomable reason he wants me as his friend and desires to be my friend and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.

Not merely that we may know God, but that he knows us.

See, Mary knows he loves her.

Colossians 3.16 says this: be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks, so always giving thanks.

It's not set to a location or a place or time.

Always giving thanks for all the things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.

So no reference here to a place of worshiping in a temple because you are the temple.

And no reference to worshiping at a service at a place time because you have your own worship service anywhere, any place, anytime.

And now we begin to go back to Mary and understand that this is worship, it's not a temple, it's just hers, her and Jesus.

There's perfume on the floors, perfume on his feet.

And then she reaches up and she undoes her hair.

Falls down.

She's already bowed down.

She takes her hair.

I mean, this is so undignified.

I mean, it's undignified like even today.

I don't know if I would want to do that.

Even more undignified then.

She takes her hair and just begins to wipe his feet.

She doesn't seem to care too much about what other people think.

She doesn't seem to care too much about how much that perfume just costs.

She seems quite free.

Free from people's approval, free from money and materials.

And she's free because she knows she's loved.

She's free because she understands this Jesus.

That he actually loves her without conditions.

He is the resurrection, the life.

He is the Passover, and He is worthy of her worship.

My brothers and sisters, may your heart overflow with extravagant worship because He loves you extravagantly.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for this good story that leads us into Easter that reminds us that you are the Passover, that you provided a way so that we do not have to continue to live our lives.

Sacrifice after sacrifice, as to be accepted, absolved, forgiven, righteous, have life eternal.

But it is found in you.

It's already done.

It's been proclaimed.

Maybe rest and know it more in our hearts.

And may our hearts worship you in response.

Not to earn anything, not to maintain anything, but just the response of knowing we're loved.

And you are worthy.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.