|
|||
| Lesson - August 7, 2004
Broken Vase Love Pastor Lance Hewitt I'm
very excited that you're part of a small group and that your group
is participating in the series called "Love".
Over the next 7 sessions, we'll be focusing on becoming more
loving people.
It's our hope over the next 7 sessions that you'll the
studies enriching and transforming.
Our one objective for this campaign is as individuals, small
groups and as a church, we would become more loving people. I also want to
encourage you to pair up with another person in the group, a
spiritual partner, each week do a quick heart check to see how are
things going spiritually. How
they're doing in the areas they want to grow in.
Please bring your Bible to each of the session. John
12:1-8 " Six days before
the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom
Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given
in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those
reclining at the table with him. 3 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.
JN 12:4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,
who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't
this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a
year's wages. " 6 He did not say this because he
cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the
money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
JN 12:7 "Leave her alone," Jesus
replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for
the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor
among you, but you will not always have me."" This
passage gives us a glimpse into the most sacred, and holy, and
intimate moments in the life of Jesus. Let me take a moment to set the context for you.
The life of Jesus is moving towards the creshindal of the
cross. The shadow of
the cross glooms large on the horizon.
This is the last week in the life of Jesus on planet earth.
And He knows full well what the next few days will hold.
It is the time of the Passover.
It is a time of celebration.
The Passover to the Jews is like what Thanksgiving is to us,
only, more holy and more sacred.
Jesus
comes to a place called Bethany, just 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.
A man by the name of Simon, hosts Jesus and some of his close
friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.
What a small group this was.
Talk about a small group evening.
First,
you have Martha, the consement servant and hostess.
Task-driven and focus. And
Mary, emotional, relational driven and easily moved to tears. Simon,
a leper who's been healed. And
there's Lazarus, who's just been raised from the dead.
And finally, you've got Jesus, the son of God.
This is my kind of small group. If
you read in verse 2, you'll find that they have something that was
at every great small group meeting, and that was: dinner was served. Lazarus
was among the ones reclining at the table.
Now that was a great small group.
They pulled their recliners right up to the dinner table but
then something happened. Something
that wasn't on the small group agenda that night.
God had something special in mind for them to experience that
evening. Here's an important principle for your group:
When God seems to be leading in a different direction, go
where you sense the Spirit is leading. Mary
brakes out a very expensive jar of perfume.
It a fragrant oil from the roots and stems of an herb comes
from Northern India. It
was so precious that it's usually sealed in an alabaster box.
It was only opened on special occasions and used sparingly
because it was so rare and so expensive.
In fact, scripture says its value is more than a year's
wages. This
brings us the first characteristic of what I call "Broken Vase
Love". 1.
Broken vase love will
cost me. King David
once said, "I will not offer a burnt offering that costs me
nothing" Love has
a price tag attached to it. It
does cost us something. It
will force us to reach out in ways that might seem uncomfortable.
I remember several years ago being in metro Denver at the
Denver clinic. I was
involved in a panel discussion with 3 men who were dying of AIDS.
We talked about the spiritual needs of men like them who were
suffering. They
expressed that one of their great needs was just a need for love and
touch. At the end of
the meeting, the other pastors that I was with began to leave the
room. Each walked right
by these men. Each of
the 3 pastors in front of me just walk by the men and said the
predictable "Thank You" to these guys for meeting with us.
They just told us of their need of compassionate touch and a
question went through my mind, "Would I reach out and hug these
men who matter to God who were dying of AIDS?"
I knew that in a matter of months, these men would die and I
felt a compelling sense of the Holy Spirit saying to me, "You
love these men, and be Jesus to them."
So
as I walked by, my eyes met the eyes of one of these men and I
reached out my hand to him, he took it, stood up and he embraced me.
There are people around us who need a loving touch or a
loving word. There is a
price tag, sometimes it will mean moving out of your comfort zone.
Sometimes it will mean risking our own acceptance.
It will often be inconvenient but this much is true, you'll
always be dying to self. In
your group, you might want to be talking about a time when someone
took a risk and reaching out to you and to demonstrate genuine love
to you. 2.
The second characteristic that we want to talk about is that
broken vase love is often impractical.
I love the abandonment you see as Mary pours out the perfume
in verse 3. She
uses the whole jar of expensive perfume.
From other parallel passages, we know that she anoints His
head and His feet. She
lets down her hair, which was a cultural risk for a woman as
she wipes His feet, not exactly a political correct thing to
do. She was so absorb,
she seemed indifference to what others might think. I
remember when I first fell in love with Connie, now my wife.
We were going to different colleges.
I had such a deep love for her that as much as I hated
writing letter, I wrote to her every single day.
Even though I was a poor college student, I managed to take
trips to see her. My
love was not very practical. Unlike
a guy I was with in a small group. We began with an ice breaker that night with "What was
the worst gift you've ever received?"
One of the ladies spoke up and talked about her husband who
had given her an insulation blanket for their hot water heater J
Not exactly the type of love that we're talking about.
The kind of love that we're talking about is less practical,
is the kind of love that is abandonment and often extravagant. The
Lords desires us to know and give the kind of extravagant love that
we witness here in John 12. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3: 12 "May the Lord make
your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone
else, just as ours does for you." There
are some people that you know that need the love of Christ to splash
on them as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3.
Maybe it seems impractical to you to invite a friend or a
neighbor to the group. Or
maybe there's a neighbor that you want to invite but you're just a
little bit scared. Who
knows? Maybe someone
you know just waiting to be invited, go ahead, take a chance but
always understand that impractical love is often misunderstood. Not
everyone was impressed by her expression of love, in fact, the Bible
says Judas object
to the waste, " Why
wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?"
The Bible also said that it wasn't that Judas had a great
concern for the poor,
he was a thief. In
Mark's account of the story, he said others joined in with Judas
and they harshly rebuked her. You
can sometimes expect the same, not everyone will understand, not
everyone will
applaud when you choose to be a loving person.
I
would encourage you, not to let the Judas of the world stop you from
knowing the Incredible
joy of abandonment, extravagant, selfless, impractical love. 3.
The third quality is that broken vase love pleases the
Father. Jesus
quickly comes
to her defense. In Mark
14 acount of the story, Jesus says she has done a beautiful
thing to me, He applauds her heart and passion.
Take
note of this, Jesus is always pleased when you take the risk to be a
more loving
person. Can I just ask
you: What risk can you
take in this group? Maybe the
risk that you'll take is that you'll lead the group into discussion
one week while you're
in this study. What
risk would God have you to take?
In
Mark, Jesus also says "She did what she could".
What a great statement.
Again, just
thinking about your group, would you be willing to do what you can
to serve the
group in some way? To
take some role? I
remember the story of a little boy walking down the shore of the
ocean and thousands
of star fish had washed upon the shore and the little boy started throwing
them back in the water one by one.
An older man walking by with cynicism
saying, "Son, there are thousands of those littering the shore,
there's no way
you can make a difference."
The little boy just reaches down and picks up a star
fish and just throws it in the water and says, "I made a
difference in that one!"
Sometimes
the needs of our world is so overwhelming that we end up being paralyzed
thinking that our little contribution won't matter and I want to
encourage you,
be like Mary. Be like
Mary like in the passage, she did what she could.
Who's in
your life is God called to love more deeply and do what you can to
make a difference.
I suspected that if you're like me, that person's name is
coming to your mind
right now. There's
a person that you don't click with or who rubs you the wrong way,
they can even
be in the room with you right now.
And your name is probably going through somebody's
mind right now. Jesus
also says that her act of impractical love will be remembered
as a memorial. Little
did she know, that her
one act of love would have
such a ripple effect. The
Bible says that when she poured out the perfume, the
fragrance filled the entire house.
What a great picture of how our love, when let
out of the vase, can impact and touches other people. 4.
Last quality that I want to mention is that broken vase love
has limited opportunities.
Jesus says to those gathered, "8
You will always have the poor among
you, but you will not always have me."
He's not being indifferent to the needs
of the poor, He's simply pointing out that they have other
opportunities to minister
to the poor but His days and hours are numbered.
He would soon be gone.
We
have limited opportunities to demonstrate our love.
We never know when life will take a turn and someone we care
for will be gone. Jesus
makes a fascinating statement in verse 7, "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that
she should save this perfume for the day of my burial."
This
verse indicates that Mary was going to use this perfume in anoint
the body of Jesus in preparation for His burial but rather than
waiting for His death, Mary pours out the oil now.
She brings flowers before the funeral rather than waiting to
bring them to the funeral. As
we close this session, I want to share something from a book that
was written called "Upward worship". 'Christians
file into their small group week by week, one by one by one they
march in separate alabaster vases.
Contained, self-sufficient, encased, individually complete,
contents undisclosed, no perfume emitting at all.
Their vases aren't bad looking, in fact, some of them are
beautiful people and they become vase conscious.
Conscious of their own vase and of others.
They're aware of clothes, personalities, a position in this
world, of exteriors. So,
before and after small group meetings, maybe even during, they apt
to talk vase talk.' Mary
broke her vase, broke it. How
shocking, how controversial. What
happened then? The
obvious, all the contents forever released.
She could never hug her precious perfume to herself again.
Many people who file into small groups, no doubt, do so
because they have Jesus inside of them.
Jesus, precious, exciting, life giving.
But most of them keep Him shut out and contained, closed all
their lives and the air is full of nothing.
The
need for Christians everywhere is to be broken, and nobody is
exempt. The vase has to
be smashed. Christians
have to let their lives out, it will fill the room with sweetness
and we will all be broken sharps be mingling together for the first
time. It's awkward and scary for people. It's easier to keep that cold alabaster front, but being
broken is the only way for the fragrance of love to get out. It's
my prayer for you that the fragrance of Christ's love will be let
out of your life and into your group.
Let's pray together: "Lord,
thank you so much for the time we've been able to spend together
around Your Word. Thank
you for the example of Mary, who had that abandonment, extravagant
love that You want all of us to express.
May that be so for every person in every group and we pray in
Jesus name, Amen."
|
|
||
