Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 20; A Giving Heart
Transcript
- Episode 20: Greetings everyone. This is John Mark with Finding Jesus Again, recording to you live from actually Ireland today. So I'm not in my studio. I'm actually on my cruise ship, but just taking a few moments, a few of these days, to stop here and and join you on our journey. And do me a favor, if you are getting anything out of this journey, or maybe you've been on it from the beginning, or maybe you're just getting started, but if you would just Maybe comment and just let me know. That would help a lot. That would help me a lot. Just knowing that you're on this journey with us and that you're getting something out of it. It'd be encouraging for me. But again, thank you to those who have been following with us daily. And I hope that you are being blessed. We're going to start today in John chapter 12. And we're going to start with verse one. So let's begin. Therefore, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was. whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made him a dinner there, and Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. Mary then took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet from her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. So just real quick, let me just kind of lay out this story before you. So Jesus is there and he's with Lazarus, Lazarus whom he raised from the dead, he's got his twelve disciples there. Maybe he's even visiting with some other people from the village. Martha is doing the serving as Martha always does. And Mary all of a sudden comes into the room and she takes a very expensive vial or perfume and she broke it and she used that to wash Jesus' feet. it would have been very difficult for her to come into this crowded room full of men and interrupt what was going on to do this, but it was something in her heart. That she really felt like she wanted to do. She seen Jesus raise her brother from the dead. she was very thankful for Jesus and and the things that he had done. And so she wanted to have this special moment to just honor him, and so she did this act. But let's look at how the disciples responded to that. Verse four. Judas, Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who intended to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to poor people? Now he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, Leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial, for you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. So we know that Judas obviously it kind of lays this out here for us that Judas was a thief, and that he would steal from the money box, and that he was in charge of the money box. And so when he seen her come in with that and break it open and wash his feet, all he saw was dollar signs. And all he saw was probably what could be done with it and also how much of it he could have taken. But he does bring it up, even though we know his motives were wrong, he does bring up a very interesting question, a question that I think a lot of us wrestle with, or a lot of churches, or a lot of people wrestle with, and that is is money best spent on Giving to the church or giving to special church needs, or is money best spent given to the poor? And I think that's a very honest and a very important question that we can ask. For instance, someone comes in and they and they give twenty thousand dollars for a new steeple. And automatically you got some people who are gonna go, why why do we need a twenty thousand dollar steeple? Or someone donates money for a a large piece of stained glass. or or new chairs or or new carpet or whatever, anything that maybe beautifies the building. And you have people who wonder, well, why why didn't why don't we take this money and why don't we do ministry with it? And I think that's a a very, very important question that can be asked and a very sincere question that can be asked. And it's not a wrong question. The the the question that Judas asked was not a wrong question, but what was wrong was his motives for asking the question. Because he wasn't asking a question out of the sincerity of his heart, but he was asking a question out of his greed. And I think that's where it falls back to. if you feel compelled to to give a gift to the church for something specific because God's laid that on your heart, then that's in your heart to do. If you feel compelled to give money to the poor, then that's in your heart to do. And Jesus says, he says, you always have the poor with you, but you don't always have me. And this verse can sometimes be used to excuse people from helping the poor. Like, you know, why help the poor? Because Jesus even said, you're always going to have the poor with you. Well, that's not, again, that's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus, first of all, is exposing the motive of Judas as being a wrong motive. But he's also saying that in this particular moment, Mary chose the better part. In this particular moment, it was in Mary's heart to worship. And to give in worship and Jesus honored that. I remember one time when I was a pastor, someone gave some money for something particular that was in their heart to give. And I I I I had this Judas question. Like, why would you want the money to go there? Why do you want the money to go to that specific thing or that specific place when it could be used better for this purpose or used for outreach or whatever? Well, the fact of the matter is that it isn't my decision to make. But it's in that person's heart. And if God put it on their heart to give to that specific thing at that specific time, then that's the pure motive and that's exactly where it should go. So it's not about what's in your heart or who you give to or where you give it or how you give it, but it's the motive. It's what's in your heart and how God is leading you to give. God may be leading you to give money to the church. God may lead, God may be leading you to give money to your neighbor. God may be leading you to give in other ways, and that's what's most important. Not that you follow the trend of what everybody else is doing, but that you that you give from the sincerity of your heart. A lot of churches and a lot of church people will get into arguments about how money should be given, where money should be used. But the fact of the matter, God doesn't even need our money. But what it comes down to, it comes down to worship and it comes down to sincerity. And it comes down to how you want to give and how God can use that gift if you give it from a true place of worship. But a good question every church should ask is this, or every person even. If Jesus walked into our church and looked at our financial statements, would he recognize his priorities? Would he see care for the vulnerable? Would he see responsible support for ministry? Would he see resources used to serve people rather than to merely impress them? Would he see generosity, transparency, and humility? Or would he see an organization primarily concerned with preserving itself? Because that's a problem too. Whenever religion gets to the point where all they want to do is preserve the past or preserve themselves, that's most definitely a problem. That is a question worth asking. Not because every church with a large building is doing something wrong. But because financial priorities reveal what an organization values. So what does your church value? And more importantly, eternalize that, what do you value? And you can determine what you value by where you spend the money or the finances that God has blessed you with. For years I've heard people say things like you can't outgive God. And usually that statement comes right before somebody passes an offering plate because it's a way to motivate you to give more. Mary poured out something valuable because she loved Jesus. Judas talked about helping the poor, but his heart was completely somewhere else. And Jesus, he saw through every bit of it. Maybe Jesus isn't just interested in where our money goes. Maybe he's interested in why we're giving it or why we're doing it in the first place. If you're doing it out of guilt, that's not gonna bless God. If you're doing it because just you think that's what you're supposed to do, that's not gonna bless God. But if you're doing it out of a suscere heart of worship, that's going to be a blessing to God. And maybe the question isn't whether I should give my money to Jesus or whether I should give my money to the poor. Maybe the question is whether I recognize Jesus when I encounter the poor. Do I recognize Jesus when I'm giving to the church? Who am I really giving to when I'm giving my gifts? Am I giving them to God? Or am I giving them to tradition and am I giving them to religion? Look, I believe that we should all be givers. I believe that we should all give. I believe that we should support our church. I believe that we should bless the people that are around us. I believe that we should help the poor. But the fact of the matter is, our hearts got to be in the right place to connect with God with our giving. And for a long time we've used scriptures like this to manipulize people into giving more money to the church. But what we need to do is teach people how to give with a cheerful heart. Because God loves a cheerful giver. God loves someone who wants to give, who is willing to give. So in this story, just to recap, Mary brought something from her heart. She brought something that was expensive, but it didn't have to be expensive. It could have been something of of just some value to her, but it was something that was very valuable. And she poured that out on Jesus' feet. And other people questioned that, but it wasn't their place to question. So be a giver, be a cheerful giver. Thank you for joining us today for episode eighteen of Finding Jesus Again. We'll see you tomorrow.