“What Am I Clinging To?”

(John 12:1-11)

Rev. Rich Stratton

First Baptist Church Henderson, KY

(2-22-09) (AM)

 

(30 sec. video clip—immediately after choir anthem—Charlie Brown Christmas)

 

Well if you hadn’t already caught on to the fact that I would be preaching this morning I think you probably just figured it out.  Some of you may wonder why I use video clips from cartoons so often and there are lots of reasons.

 

First, having an 8 year old and a 6 year old at home means that a large portion of my TV diet is made up of cartoons.

 

Second, they’re great for getting the attention of pretty much everybody in the room.  Right now I even have the attention of kids, and possibly adults, who would normally be kind of settling in for naptime.  It got your attention because you are wondering how in the world that can possibly have any relevance to anything in John 12.

 

But the main reason I use cartoons is that lots of the older cartoons, which are typically the only ones I use, are great teaching tools.  Dr. Seuss, Scooby Doo, and of course, the greatest of all time, Peanuts, are full of the most amazing lessons that deal with real life issues.  For example, the clip we just watched was humorous and fun.  But, it contains an underlying truth that every one of us can identify with.

 

Linus, as you witnessed, clings desperately to his blanket.  He always has it with him, he breaks into cold sweats and nervous fits if someone attempts to take it from him.  He has even put thought into what he will do to hang onto it when he becomes an adult, he said “maybe I’ll make it into a sport coat.”  We look at Linus and we can see how silly it is for him to cling to something that is so insignificant and we can easily say he needs to grow up and recognize what is truly worth holding on to.

 

I wanted to show you this clip because it illustrates how we tend to cling to things that are ultimately insignificant, things that are meant to be temporary, things that are comfortable, things that keep us from clinging to what we should want to grasp fully and firmly and never let go of, things that often times are even sinful.

 

This morning our Scripture leads us to look at our own lives and to ask the question “what am I clinging to?”  In John chapter 12, verses 1-11 the apostle John gives us a look at six people or groups of people as they cling to their “security blanket,” the things that are most important in their lives.  Some of them are clinging to the right thing, to their Lord Jesus Christ and their commitment to him.  Others are clinging to the wrong things, things that they should cast off in order to embrace what is truly worth holding on to.

 

So now I hope you have found John chapter 12 in your Bibles and that you will stand with me in honor of God, the very author of the book we hold and who is present with us now just as He always is.

 

1-3Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.

4-6Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

7-8Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”

9-11Word got out among the Jews that he was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at Jesus but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him.

Prayer

As we jump right into the text this morning I want to let you know that I find this passage divides into two sections.  It divides into:  What we should commit to and what we should cast off.  So first let’s look at and ask ourselves the question…

I.            What Should I commit to? (vv. 1-4)

In the first four verses we are going to look at three individuals who are clinging to the right thing, three folks with whom almost all of us are likely familiar.  Let’s find out who they are and what they were clinging to.

Look with me at verse 1.  It says Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.

Six days before the Passover, that is six days before the final Passover, before the Last Supper, just one day, the very night before Jesus would make his Triumphal entry into the City of Jerusalem and set into motion the events that would lead to the cross, on that day He came to Bethany.  Why Bethany of all places?  He came to Bethany to spend the evening with a family that had been very special to him during his three years of ministry

He wanted to spend one more evening with Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha.  Now let me tell you, I love this family.  I love them because the lessons we can learn from them are so practical.  I love them because they are at times so typical and so human.  But I also love them because at other times they show us exactly where we need to be.  And in this passage each of them shows us exactly what we should be committed or clinging to.

First, we see that we should committed to…

• Serve Like Martha

Look with me at verse 2.  It says there they made him a supper, and Martha served.  Now, a lot of times we have the tendency to fault Martha for her attitude of service.  We think about the passage in Luke chapter 10 where she is so busy doing stuff that she fails to see what is really important.  You remember the story in Luke.

Jesus and the disciples came to the house in Bethany and Martha immediately began to work on a meal and making sure that every one was comfortable while Mary, her sister, sat down to listen to all of the wonderful things that Jesus had to say.  And then you will remember that Martha got all frustrated because she was doing all of the work and she began to complain to Jesus thing that he would tell Mary to get up and do something.  But he didn’t rebuke Mary, instead he rebuked Martha and who told her that it was Mary who was doing the best thing because she was doing it out of devotion to Jesus.  All that Martha was doing had little impact for Christ because she was doing it grudgingly.

Well in John we are looking at a new Martha.  She is still the same busybody Martha but there is now a joy in her service because she has learned the truth about working for Jesus.  She has learned that working for the Lord should never be just about the activity, it should never be something that brings us frustration, it should never be done just because it is “the thing to do” or because we feel obligated to do it.  We should be committed to our service for Jesus because we are committed to him and because we love him and want to please him.

That is what Martha has figured out.  She is now preparing a meal for a group that is most likely larger than the little group back in Luke but there is no complaint, only joy that she can use her gift of hospitality to serve Jesus.  If we look at all the things we do to serve others simply as our job, or as a task that “somebody has to do”, then we will be like the old Martha, frustrated and unsatisfied.  But if we serve others out of our love and commitment to Jesus and because we are following in his example then there will be nothing but joy as we cling to our commitment to serving Jesus.

Next we see that we should be clinging to a commitment to …

• Share Like Lazarus

Look again at verse 2.  We have Martha serving away, probably whistling and singing as she goes and then we have Lazarus.  It says but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Now on the surface, if we did not know who Lazarus was this would seem like a pretty uneventful thing to be doing.  And we might be tempted to think something like “Well good for old Lazarus he is able to sit at a table.”  But because we do know something very special about Lazarus we instead say, “Praise God, Lazarus is able to sit at the table.”

 

We are reminded in verse one of who Lazarus is and about the events in the previous chapter.  We are told that this is the same Lazarus who was dead, this is the same Lazarus who was buried in a tomb for 4 days.  This is the Lazarus that Jesus had called back from being dead and not just a little bit dead but very dead, starting to decay and smell dead.  And now he was sitting at the table with Jesus and His disciples and others who had been blessed by Jesus.

 

Now just the fact that a formerly dead man is sitting at the table getting ready to eat a meal is pretty amazing but what is even more amazing is the great witness that Lazarus now is to the power of Jesus.  If we skip down to verses 9 through 11 we see that Lazarus is a great witness for Jesus and because of him many people are believing in Jesus.

 

Then  a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not only for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests took counsel that they might also put Lazarus to death, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

 

Notice what it says in verse 11, because on account of him (Lazarus) many believed in Jesus. Now that is something we should be committed to.  We should want others to look at us and at our lives and come to know Jesus because of our witness, because we are willing to share him, because we are willing to be seen as his.

 

Now I know you might be thinking well Lazarus was different, it was easy for him to have such an impact.  It was easy for him to have such a witness.  It was easy for people to see what Jesus had done for him.  Jesus had raised him from the dead.  Christian he has done the same thing for us!  Before we met Him and embraced Him as the Savior and Lord of our lives we too were dead.  We were spiritually dead.  We weren’t just sick.  We weren’t just lost, we were dead.

 

We were not struggling for life like a drowning man.  Jesus did not throw us a life line.  We were dead and lying on the bottom of the ocean and Jesus came down pulled us from the depths and breathed life into our dead spirits.  So we need to be committed to comfortably being in the presence of Jesus so that everyone can see what he has done for us.

 

We need to be excited about our witness for Christ, we need to tell everyone what he has done for us, we need to live in such a way that others can see that Christ has made a difference in our lives, we need to unashamedly proclaim the life Jesus has given us.  We should never be ashamed of the life Christ has given.  We should never apologize or be afraid that our wonderful gift from our Savior would offend someone.  Do you think Lazarus went around apologizing for having been dead and being alive again?  “Oh, I’m sorry sir.  I didn’t mean to offend you by being alive.”  No, he was proud to tell and show everyone the difference Jesus had made in his life and we should be too.

 

WE should commit to serving and sharing and finally we see that we should commit to …

• Sacrificing like Mary

I said earlier that I love this family and I especially love Mary because she always seems to be the one who is able to show us how extremely committed to Jesus we should be.

 

Look at verse 3.

 

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

 

Now to see just how committed to sacrificing for Jesus Mary was, to see just how devoted she was in clinging to Him and only Him she was we need to understand exactly what it is she has done in this verse.

 

It says she took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, that’s just a weird word isn’t it spikenard, and in the NIV it just says Nard which is even stranger.  When I read that I think “I’m not sure I want something called Nard poured all over me.”  But anyway it is not as strange as it sounds because it turns out that it was a very expensive oriental perfume.  It was made from a rare plant that only grows in the Himalayas and therefore in order for it to be in Israel it had to be brought by camel over thousands of miles.  And Mary had a pound of the stuff,  I’m thinking about how expensive an ounce or two of perfume is today and I don’t think I could afford a pound of the stuff.  But enough about that, the bottom line is we know from verses 3 and 5 that Mary used a very expensive ointment.  An ointment that could have been sold for an amount so large that it was nearly a years wages for a working man at that time.

 

And Mary simply took the container broke it open without regard for what it was costing her and poured it over Jesus’ head so that it ran even down to his feet .  That is sacrifice for Christ, simply giving of ourselves to him in such a way that we do not even consider the cost.

 

But she didn’t stop there, it says that she actually took down her hair and used it to dry the feet of Jesus.  Her hair, she used her hair to dry his feet.  That to is sacrifice.  That is humbly coming before the one to whom we owe absolutely everything and saying “It’s yours.”  Here is all I have and here even is my dignity, I give absolutely everything to you.”

 

Now listen carefully, I know that something like this today is counter cultural, I know that giving absolutely everything over to Christ may seem hard to do, but listen to this, it is no more, absolutely no more than HE DESERVES.

 

Think about it, think about what he has done for us.  He gave us life when we were dead, he gives us the strength and hope to face each day, he has given us the world we live in, he has given us the family we love, he has given us the job we work at,  he has given us the very air we breath,  Jesus has given us everything.

 

I recently have been moved to meditate on the words of the old hymn Jesus paid it All. It says I hear the Savior say Thy strength indeed is small Child of weakness watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.  Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

 

That is what Mary is thinking of here when she gives Jesus her all.  That is what motivates her to give 100% of her life to Jesus.  He gave his all and he deserves nothing less in return.  She held nothing back.

 

I know that this is a difficult thing to do.  It is hard to sacrifice everything for Christ, it is hard to put him first in every situation but we should be moved to do so, we should be moved to cling to Him like a hungry dog to a bone because it is all to Him I owe.

 

 

Now this would be a great place to end this sermon.  WE have looked at three individuals who were committed to, and clinging to the right thing.  WE have been challenged and encouraged to do the same.  But unfortunately the text goes on.  It goes on to show us not only what we should be clinging to but what we have the tendency to cling to and should not.   It gives us the answer to our second question today…

II.          What Should I CAST Off? (vv. 5-11)

 

Moving quickly let’s look at verses 4-6 to see that we should cast off the tendency to be…

 

4-6Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

Now it is easy to be hard on Judas, it is easy for us and it was easy for John.  Especially since we can look back on the situation and we know what was in Judas’ heart.  But the truth is that what was in his heart was in the hearts of the other disciples and often lurks within us.  It is a sense of selfishness.  Now don’t get me wrong, Judas took it a step further by being a thief and wanting the money for himself.  But the other disciples were indignant at what Mary had done as well, we know this from the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark.

 

They felt that they knew a better way to put this expensive gift to use, they felt that they should have had some say, that they should have decided what was done with such a precious resource.  WE do the same thing.  WE hold back things in our own lives thinking we know best how to use them.  Or worse we hold things back like Judas did wanting to keep them for ourselves.

 

Folks, we cannot do this, we must hand everything over to him because he is most important

(vv. 6-7).  We even have to give him the hardest things to give up.  WE must come before Him and say Lord it is all yours, my stuff, my relationships, my life, even my kids.  WE need to say to Christ: Take them and use them in the way that most glorifies you.

 

WE should embrace the words of missionary Jim Elliot who said: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

 

Secondly, we must cast off being…

 

 

Look at the Jewish people in this story who came out of Jerusalem.  It says in verse 9 that they came not only for Jesus’ sake, that is to see him, but also to see Lazarus.  So some of these folks were simply sight seers.  They were simply coming to see Jesus because they wanted see Lazarus, this novelty.

 

Folks we don’t need to be the kind of shallow person who comes to see Jesus only for the novelty of it.  We don’t need to come to church just to see our friends, or just to be seen by others, or just to feel good about ourselves.  We don’t need to be the kind of person who seeks Jesus on a shallow level that does not reach and change every part of our life.

 

WE don ‘t need to be compartmental Christians.  The kind who say, “I’ll go to church on Sunday to see Jesus and what he has to say.”  But then says “I’ll go to work on Monday and do and see the things that suit me best or I’ll go out this weekend and see what else the world has to offer that is exciting and stimulating before I go back to church on Sunday for my weekly look at Jesus.”

 

WE must cast off that kind of shallow living and cling to Jesus every moment of every day.

 

The third thing we must cast off is being…

 

• Stony like the Priests

 

Listen being selfish and shallow leads to a stony heart.  Look at the priests in verses 10-11.

 

But the chief priests took counsel that they might also but Lazarus to death, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

 

These guys had forgotten the very God whom they claimed to serve.  They were not interested in what God wanted.  They were not interested in His glory.  They were only interested in themselves.  They were seeing the Jewish people who were following Jesus and knew that these people would no longer follow them.  These people were chipping away at their place of power and prestige.

 

The priests had become so selfish and shallow that they were now self consumed and could not see Jesus for who he was.  They had become so wrapped up in themselves that they could no longer see the God in whose temple they served.

 

Their hearts had been hardened against God because they no longer remembered him.  They are the very picture of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer was talking about when he said:  “Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.”

 

Folks, do not forget God.  Don’t focus on the things of this world and harden your heart to things of the next.

 

Conclusion:

 

WE need to cling to Jesus.  WE need to be like Mary and give him our all.  WE need to strive to have Jesus say about us what he says about Mary.  In verses 7 and 8 he is obviously pleased with her and her sacrifice and in Matt. 26:13 he says as much.

 

Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.

 

We must seek to please Jesus.  Actually seek to satisfy Jesus.  CS Lewis says in his book, Mere Christianity, that “God is easy to please but difficult to satisfy.”  Seek to satisfy him.

 

Do not forget what he sent his Son to do for us.  Remember each day that God sent his Son to die in order that we might live.  Remember each day to live a life that shares Jesus with those around you.  Remember each day to keep your heart soft to God by sacrificing your all to Him.  Remember each day not to cling to the things of the world but to cling only Jesus Christ.

 

Prayer

 

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