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Matt 26 – Jesus is Worth It: Love Extravagantly (pt3 of 3)

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Underlying Judas’ betrayal, the motivation behind why Judas said, why wasn’t this money given to the poor was his love of money. Let’s call it what it is. Money was his idol. Judas didn’t love the poor. He didn’t love Jesus. He was ready to betray Jesus for $1,000. That’s how much Jesus was worth to him. Jesus was so cheap in his eyes.

We look at this despicable, treacherous act of betrayal and we think, we’d never do that. We would never sell a human being, much less the Son of God, for a measly $1,000. If you are thinking this way, then you don’t know yourself. You don’t know the power of money to grip your heart. You don’t Scripture, which is filled with plenty of warnings about the deceitfulness of wealth.

Take for example 1 Tim 6:6-10.

1 Timothy 6
6 But godliness with contentment is a great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

These verses apply directly to Judas. Judas loved money more than Jesus. It was his love for money which ultimately caused him to betray Jesus and lose his faith. No one can serve two masters. God or money. Money is the only thing that Jesus warns us to watch out for because it is on par with God in the sense that it has the potential of enslaving and controlling us like no other idol. A paltry sum of $1,000 compared to the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. It’s unthinkable. But it happened to one of the 12. The same thing can happen to us if we are not careful.

What Mary did stands in stark contrast to what Judas did. You can’t juxtapose two more opposite responses to Jesus–one of considering Jesus to be so worthy, so worthwhile, so worth it that Mary would pour out $25K in an instant and the other of betraying, selling cheaply, murdering the Son of God for $1,000 bucks. You can’t put two more opposing responses side by side.

Jesus praises Mary for her expression of extravagant love. Listen to what he says in Matt 26:13–

Matt 26
13 I assure you: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.

Why is this act to be proclaimed wherever the gospel, whenever the life of Jesus is preached? Because Mary demonstrates how all of us should respond to Jesus. The only appropriate response to Jesus is extravagant love. Absolute surrender. Giving our very best. Laying down our idols at the feet of Jesus. Giving it all. Mary gets it. Therefore, wherever and whenever the gospel is preached, Mary’s story will be told alongside the gospel in memory of her.

It doesn’t end there. We have to notice the verse that came right before, v12–

Matt 26
12 By pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she has prepared Me for burial.

It’s awesome to consider what is happening here. Mary, Martha and Lazarus are throwing Jesus a thank you dinner. They were not among the inner circle. They might have heard some sermons from Jesus about his imminent death. But like the 12, they had no idea that the end was so near. To think, Mary’s extravagant act of love to Jesus was more than a thank you dinner. It was much bigger in its spiritual significance. The timing of it was such that her act was a symbolical preparation for Jesus’ actual, physical death and burial.

Sometimes, we think what we do for the Lord is no big deal. We just surrender what he asks to surrender. We sacrifice because he asks us to sacrifice. We serve because there is someone in need. We preach and lead somebody to Christ because that’s what Jesus asks us to do. And we think it ends with our obedience or meeting a need or serving someone and that’s the end of the story. Like Mary, it’s just a thank you dinner. People will eat, Jesus will be touched and go home.

Be encouraged–in Christ, whatever we do may have ripple effects that continue on for eternity. Our surrender, our sacrifice, our obedience today, these things that seem momentary may far outlast the moment. We never know what our obedience today will reap tomorrow or next year or decades from now. Your life and my life matter. Our obedience matters. Even what we think is a small sacrifice or a small act of obedience may be multiplied and the ripple effects could continue for generations to come.

For Mary, she broke the alabaster jar and poured out every last drop of the oil. She did not hold anything back. Every time the gospel is preached, this is the only proper response. Laying down everything else. Pouring out every last drop. Maybe when you first heard the gospel, you had this type of response. Lord, you died for me. I repent of my sins. I lay down my life. I surrender. I give up. I’m tired of leading my own life. I want you to lead now. I trust you. I will follow you all the days of my life. Things were crystal clear when we heard the gospel for the first time and responded.

What about the 10th time you heard the gospel? Or the 100th time? Is your response as radical after the nth time of hearing the gospel as it was the very first time? The same level of thrill and gratitude and amazement and wonder and love expressed from the core of our being. Extravagant love gushing forth from our very souls that we experienced the first time. Is your heart still capable of responding to the gospel in the same extravagant, radical way today?

Growing up, my parents used to tell me, everything in moderation. Too much of a good thing is bad, they said. When I was born again as a sophomore in college and they saw my zeal for Jesus, they told me the same thing. Everything in moderation, even faith in God. I know they meant well and in many cases, this is good advice to follow. Too much food is bad. Eat in moderation. Having fun is good, but too much pleasure seeking can kill you. Generally, this is good advice. But when it comes to God, I have to disagree with them. There is nothing moderate about the Christian life. Weren’t you willing to give up everything when you first accepted Christ into your heart? Has the radical demands of the gospel changed? Or have you and I changed?

If any voice tells you to moderate your love for Jesus, don’t listen. Let your affections for Jesus be lavish. If any voice tempts you to want to be rich monetarily as your highest aim, don’t listen. Jesus is your treasure, and all that money can buy cannot compare to him. In response to the worth of Jesus, Mary’s heart was full of wonder and thankfulness and joy overflowing in lavish demonstrations of affection. And Judas’ heart felt none of that but valued money more than he valued Jesus. Mary loved Jesus. Judas loved money. Mary’s heart corresponded to the treasure that Jesus is. Judas’s heart contradicted the treasure that Jesus is.

When you buy a drink at the movies and they charge you $5 for a coke, you think, what a waste? You can get a case of 24 cans at Costco for that price. It’s a waste because what you are willing to pay and the actual cost doesn’t match. Brothers and sisters, it’s never a waste when we give our all to Jesus because how can our best ever measure up to the infinite worth of Christ?

Mary gets it. Lavish love, extravagant love is the least she can do in light of Jesus raising her brother to life and forgiving her sin and promising the gift of eternal life. Check yourself. Are you grateful for Jesus today? How is your gratitude being expressed? Before talking about ministry and missions and service to others, how is your relationship with Jesus? Is it characterized by this kind of joy and reckless abandon and surrender? Giving Jesus your best because he is totally worth it.

Lastly, consider the fact that this anointing happened in a room full of people who were there for this thank you dinner. Not your usual dinner, but a dinner where 16 ounces, pound of oil were poured out. Even a pinch of perfume is powerful enough to envelop a person with a haze of odorous fragrance for an entire day. Some guys make the mistake of treating cologne like it’s deodarant. They haven’t showered so they spray it on. This is not a pinch, but a pound of perfume. The house must have been filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Heartfelt worship of King Jesus is never merely private. It always spills over onto others—one way or the other. The lavish, heartfelt, sacrificial, grateful display of affection was for Jesus. But, everybody around them must have been blessed. Focus on loving Jesus the best way you can and people around you will take notice. Jesus Is worth it. Let’s love him extravagantly each day the best we can.

Matt 26 – Jesus is Worth It: Love Extravagantly (pt2 of 3)

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Compare the trio of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, their gratitude, with that of the disciples and Judas in particular.

In Matt 26:8, you have a chorus of indignant disciples shouting, why this waste? I get it. We have to be good stewards. We can’t give away our life savings every single day in a moment of extravagant, wasteful love. But in light of Jesus’ imminent death, the timing was critical. Mary had no idea that Jesus was going to die soon. Nobody did, not even the disciples, even though Jesus had been preaching about his death extensively. Their spiritual eyes had not yet been opened to this truth regarding the resurrection. Nobody believed. Perhaps, out of their humanistic love, they were all in denial. Maybe they thought Jesus was speaking figuratively. Whatever the reason, nobody was prepared for what was about to unfold.

If Mary were second guessing herself–is it wise to pour out all the oil, am I being a good steward, could this money be used better elsewhere–if she second guessed herself, she would have missed this opportunity to prepare Jesus for his burial. Her thinking wasn’t complicated. She wanted to give thanks in the best, most extravagant way she could and she seized the moment.

Sometimes, what we do for the Lord won’t make good sense. And so we will want to hold back. Hold back our money, our time, our effort. We want to give our best to the Lord, who wouldn’t? But we pause. We say, let me pray about it. Often, these are just excuses. When God prompts you to pour yourself out and you don’t, you are sinning. Don’t hesitate when God prompts you by His Spirit to give extravagantly.

In John 12, the chorus of criticism is narrowed down to one voice. Judas is singled out.

John 12
4 Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, 5 “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?”

What is the motivation behind Judas saying, why this waste? Judas doesn’t quite say it that way here, but that’s the gist of what he is saying when he says, why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This is poor stewardship. Look at the poor. Look at the great needs around us. Think about how many mouths we could have fed with $25k.

The gospel writer John gives us some commentary to see right through Judas’ words straight to his heart.

John 12
6 He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.

Judas was the treasurer. He had access to the money bags. You put someone in this kind of position at a church if he can be trusted. You don’t make a newcomer a treasurer. No one except Jesus knew it at the time, but in retrospect, as John writes this gospel, he notes that Judas must have been stealing money throughout Jesus’ ministry.

Who knows when it began? I doubt Judas first started following Jesus with an intention to steal money and then eventually betray him. He would have made more money had he stayed in whatever vocation he had before following this poor, itinerant Rabbi. He probably started out like the rest of the disciples with trust, loyalty, surrender, love. But somewhere along the way, where Judas wanted to go and where Jesus wanted to take him diverged like a fork in the road. Somewhere along the way, Judas became disappointed with Jesus. Judas had certain expectations of what following Jesus would be like and Jesus did not meet his expectations.

We’ve all been there. If you’ve been following Jesus for a while, then you can attest to the fact that many of us began our Christian journeys like artillery fired out of a canon. We were fired up. We’ll go anywhere. We’ll do anything. No cost was too much to pay. We were ready to give it all. Along the way, however, we hit some rough patches. Some bumps in the road. Maybe we were disappointed one too many times. You thought following Christ would be easier. You didn’t know Christian life involved so much sacrifice and self-denial and dying to self and suffering for the sake of others or because of others. So we hold back. Our hearts grow cold. Over time, we stop giving Jesus our best.

Judas responded to his sense of disappointment in Jesus by stealing money. The first time he stole money and didn’t get caught was one step closer to his eventual betrayal of Jesus. He didn’t wake up one day and decide, hey, I think I’m going to betray Jesus today. His betrayal was the result of one decision after another. Moving away from Christ one step at a time. And gradually, sin accumulated in his life over time.

Don’t underestimate the power of sin in your life. You don’t decide one day to commit a sin like adultery. A sin like that comes at the end of many years of distancing from and having contempt for your spouse. It is the culmination of years of neglect and a failure to love and to invest in the relationship. Judas fell into the pit of betrayal not in one careless misstep, but after a multitude of missteps which brought him to the edge of the pit.

Judas’ fall is a warning to us all against sin. Sin is like a prowling lion, waiting for someone to devour. It starts with a small decision. A little money stolen here, a little compromise there, a small white lie, a seemingly harmless decision to hold back trust, a decision to hate instead of love, a choice to remain apathetic for one day too many. If there was trust in Jesus or trust in the other disciples on Judas’ part, perhaps this sin could have been exposed and dealt with early on before it grew and literally devoured him.

This sin of stealing grew in darkness. No light exposed his sin. Sin molds, it festers in darkness. Sin loves to stay hidden. Sin, if it remains hidden and unconfessed, grows in its power over us.

If you are struggling today, the last thing you want to do is to isolate yourself. If you are struggling in your marriage, seek help. If you struggling with personal sin, confess it. Don’t deal with your issues on your own. The longer you isolate yourself, the more the power of sin will grow in your life. If you let sin fester in darkness, there will come a point when you will reach the point of no return. And you might end up doing something you never thought was possible. Or worse, you might end up turning your back on Christ, never to return.