Latest / The Daily Word / May 9 – Don’t Judge Another’s Offering
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Well, happy May 9th. It's Pastor Jenny here, and we are continuing in our Life Journal New Testament reading plan, which puts us in Matthew 26 today, which has us kind of at the very close summation of Jesus's life here on earth, nearing the crucifixion. And so, Matthew 26 opens up with the plot to kill Jesus. And I want to share with you starting in verse six, where it talks about him being anointed by oil, a very expensive oil. Someone comes in, so I'm going to just go ahead and read the scriptures to you. It says this, when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask, a very costly, fragrant oil, and she poured it on his head. as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. 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." So it's really interesting because right before this passage, Jesus had just made sure the disciples knew, hey, in just a few days, ⁓ you know, ⁓ Passover's coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. So, he had been kind of preparing them. He'd been having these conversations. Now, whether or not they were really absorbing and understanding, you know, it didn't really seem they were taking that all in, but he had at least been kind of planting the seed and tilling up the soil, so to speak. And so, she comes in and she lays out this offering on him, lays this before him, and they're looking at her like, what are you doing? Who are you to be doing this? You could have taken that and done something very different with it. They had their own opinions, own thoughts on what she should have been doing, how she could have really served the Lord with what she had. Does that sound... like any thoughts maybe you've ever had or maybe a conversation you've ever been in with someone? Have you ever looked at the way someone served or perhaps a ministry is doing something and thought, why are they doing that? Couldn't they have done X, Y, and Z either with that money or with their time? And as I read this, I'm challenged in myself to, whether it's in my heart, in my mind, or in my conversation, to be really cautious and careful that I'm not judging others for the sacrifice and ways in which they feel called to pour out their lives and their offering, whether financially, with their time, their resource, before the Lord. because Jesus makes it clear in this passage that this woman was doing the right thing, that she was doing what was the right thing in pouring her life and her offering for Jesus, and so much so that he ensured that it was going to be put out in the scriptures. Now, there's a lot more significance to this passage that I'm not going to get into for the sake of time in this devotion, but I encourage you to go and study because there's a lot to be known about the significance of the fact that she did pour oil on his body because, I mean, he even notates like she was doing this in preparation for his burial. And so there's significance in that. There's significance to the fact that even they were notating, know, couldn't this have been used for money? There was really greed happening. in their hearts because one of those that would have been commenting would have been Judas. So there's a lot more that we can study to the passage. But really what stood out to me and why I felt compelled to share it today is because I do think that within the body of Christ there's a judging that takes place. We have a tendency because comparison is something that we all struggle with in many different layers and ways of our lives. And I think in the way that we serve the Lord, that this is easy to creep in within our own church, but within ministries one to another, we want to compare ⁓ thinking that it's the right thing to do, that they could have done this better or that better or served in a better way. And so I want to encourage you today to keep your eyes on Jesus, to love the Lord as I encouraged him. My last ⁓ devotion with love the Lord with all your heart, love people with all of your heart. And when you can serve Him and serve others through that lens and your focus is on Him, you can know that as you're living a life surrendered to Him in obedience, He'll work out the details with other individuals and how they're serving Him. So, hope you're encouraged today to know that we're all in this together. We're all here to serve the Lord. We're here to love Him. We're here to serve others. And as long as those things are being accomplished, ⁓ we can come together to serve and minister to the world because Jesus also makes it pretty clear in the book of John that it's just as Jesus and the Father were one, as we come together as one as believers, that is how the world is going to know that Jesus is who he says he is, that God is who he says he is. So let us not be divided today. Let us come together in our serving of him and our serving of one another so that the world may know God is who he says he is, that Jesus really is the Son of God, and that he really does love them, that he gave his life for them. So Lord, we come before you today and we thank you that you gave your life, that as we read through these scriptures today, we are reminded ⁓ that you ⁓ were reminded yet again, just in today's reading, that in a very real way, you not only lived the perfect life, but you laid that life down as a sacrifice for us. And just as you laid your life down for us, it's our privilege to lay our lives down and sacrifice to you. And as we do that, may we not look to others and judge them for whatever sacrifice they do or do not make in their worship to you. But would we focus our worship on how we worship you and would we spur one another on towards love and good works so that you may be lifted up and glorified in all we do. In Jesus name, amen.