What Is Jesus Worth?

SERMON: 2017-01-08--mk1417--what-is-jesus-worth SOURCE DURATION: 00:49:14.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The opening segment introduces the sermon topic and structure, while the closing segment provides a final pastoral challenge related to the core theme ('What is Jesus Worth?'). Both are integral parts of the main sermon content. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- This being the second Sunday of the new year, the Lord is laid in my heart, I think, a message that I've chosen to entitle "What is Jesus Worth?" Specifically, what is Jesus worth to you and to me? The story that I want to use for that is the familiar story in Mark's Gospel, chapter 14, where Jesus is anointed with oil. Let's read it together. "Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. But not during the feast, they said, or the people may riot. While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, 'Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.' And they rebuked her harshly. 'Leave her alone,' said Jesus, 'Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. And you will not always have me.' She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money, so he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, we sing the songs of worship, how you're worthy, and how you want us to give you our hearts. And Lord, in moments of religious fervor, when life goes well and our prayers have been answered and we know that you love us, that's maybe not that difficult, at least to move in that direction. But when life is hard and you invite us to take up your cross and follow you and to trust you in situations and circumstances where sometimes we don't quite know who you are or where you're going or where you're taking us, then Lord, it can be much more difficult. And yet in good times and in bad times, you're worthy of it all. So help us this morning to do some self-examination, to ask ourselves the question, what is Jesus worth to me and what price am I prepared to pay to fulfill his plan and his purpose for my life in the here and now. So bless us in these moments together. I pray for words and grace and liberty to just proclaim that which you have laid on my heart. And Lord, may it find in all of our hearts good and fertile soil that by the power of your Holy Spirit will just spring up and bear fruit for time and for eternity. We'll be careful to give you the glory. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. In his book, The Insanity of God, author Nick Ripken, which is a pen name for security reasons, tells the story of meeting up with a former guerrilla commander who by his own admission has murdered well over a hundred people. And not to be too gory about it, but it's part of the story, he loved coming up behind his victims, slashed their throats and let their blood flow over his hands. This went on for many, many years. And for a long, long time, it didn't bother him in the least until he began having a recurring nightmare and in that recurring nightmare, it started out by seeing bloods of spot or spots of blood on his hands, spots with each recurring dream grew in size until his hands were literally dripping with blood. This nightmare continued night after night and then to his great perplexity, it broke into his daytime world and try as he might. He was unable to escape the horror of this blood on his hands and he feared for his sanity. One night suddenly the dream changed and he dreamed there was a man dressed in white standing before him, had scars in his hands, scars in his sides, scars in his feet, and he introduced himself this way. He said, "I am Jesus the Messiah and I can get the blood off if you will just find me and believe in me." And for this former guerrilla commander that started a journey towards Jesus, it took quite a while, eventually he came to faith, confessed his sins and sure enough as Jesus had told him in the vision, he was washed clean of the blood and suddenly the nightmares ceased. In amazement and gratitude, he gave himself over to the service of Jesus. His former guerrilla troop was extremely upset with him as you can imagine and about two years in they waylaid him, beat him up badly, tried to kill him and he only escaped by the skin of his teeth because one of his friends unbeknownst to them had also become a Christian and he smuggled him out of there. And so it was that Nick Ripken in preparation for the writing of this book, The Insanity of God, the true story of faith resurrected, met up with him as part of six hundred people in sixty countries that he interviewed. And he interviewed them for the specific purpose of trying to understand why God allows persecution in so many parts of the world and how believers facing that kind of persecution so many times shine in their faith in ways that put us in the western world to shame. So he arranged to meet him. The man wanted to hide his identity so he remained hidden, I believe behind a plant and for six hours they conversed back and forth as to what his former life had been like and what his life had been like serving Jesus. The conversation went along really quite smoothly until it was just about over and the author thought to ask him, what about your wife and kids? How do they relate to this price that you've had to pay to follow Jesus? And suddenly everything changed. The man jumped out of the dark where he had been hiding. He grabbed him by the shoulders and he, let me just find it here, he grabbed him by the shoulders, looked intently at him and he demanded to know how can God ask it, tell me how can God ask him? And he went on to say, "I've been willing to die for Jesus," he pleaded, "but do you know what I fear? When I go to bed at night what keeps me awake and what actually terrifies me is the thought that God might ask my wife and my children what I have already willingly given him. How can he ask it, tell me how could God ask that of my wife and my children?" I think many of us can identify with that question. The author goes on to say, "I paused for a few moments and prayed that the Lord would guide my words and I finally told him I cannot answer your question, but I would ask you another question that I've had to ask myself. Is Jesus worth it? Is he worth your life? Is he worth the lives of your wife and children? This man was undoubtedly the toughest man I had ever met. He began to sob, he wrapped his arms around me, buried his face on my shoulder, and wept. When he finally stopped, he stepped back and wiped away his tears. He seemed angry at himself for this display of emotion. Then he looked me in the eyes again. He nodded and declared, 'Jesus is worth it. He is worth my life, my wife's life, and he is worth the lives of my children. I have got to get them involved in what God is doing with me. Is Jesus worth it?" How you answer that question, how you and I answer that question, is determined almost completely by our understanding of who Jesus is. Is it not? If Jesus is just an ancient religious figure, if he was perhaps a good man or even a prophet who came to show people the way and perhaps a person who tried to rope people into his campaign so that he could use them for his own purposes, then Jesus isn't worth much. But if Jesus is who the Bible says that he is, namely the Son of God through whom the world was created, who entered into our world in order to restore us to God, who because of his obedience and suffering is exalted today at the right hand of God, is called Lord of Lords, is worshiped by myriads and myriads of angels, and has promised to one day reward us with glory beyond anything that you and I can imagine, if that is who Jesus is, then he is worth everything. Let me turn the question around. What is Jesus worth to you? Is he worth risking your life for? Is he worth risking the lives of your children? Is he worth everything that you are and everything that you can give him? I think that's the point of the story that we've just read here from Mark chapter 14. Let's reread a couple of those verses. While he was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar, a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar, poured the perfume on his head. Some of those who were present were saying indignantly to one another, why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor. The contrast in evaluating Jesus in these couple of verses is huge. We know from John's gospel that also relates this story that the woman in question is Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and the sister of Lazarus. Lazarus had just been raised from the dead. She was a wealthy woman. She loved Jesus passionately. The alabaster jar of ointment that was worth a year's wages in today's money would be what? Twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five thousand dollars that she poured out over his head. John's gospel says she poured it on his feet, so undoubtedly both of these places were anointed by her. It's important to separate this story from a similar story in Luke's gospel that actually happened elsewhere a year earlier with an other Mary in another person's house, also called Simon. Jesus was worth everything that she could give him. We also know from the story in John's gospel that the leading critic, do you remember who the leading critic is in this story? It's Judas. And Judas complained, of course, is why this waste, this could have been sold for a year's worth of salary? Why wasted on Jesus? It's just perfume. It's here now and it's gone tomorrow. John's gospel adds this wasn't because Judas was so concerned about the poor. Judas was the treasurer of the band of disciples and he used to steal money and we know from the gospel story that Judas had signed up with Jesus because he looked on Jesus as a political messiah and he wanted to ride on his coattails into a this worldly kingdom. And when it became increasingly apparent that this is not where Jesus was going, Judas had enough. And so it's very interesting how this pericope or this passage that we have been looking at ends because this became the clincher when Jesus rebuked him. This became the clincher for Judas to make up his mind about betraying Jesus. Verse 10 and verse 11, then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and they promised to give him money. Who remembers how much money? Thirty pieces of silver, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. For Judas, Jesus was worth thirty pieces of silver. For Mary, he was worth a year's worth of wages. See how you answer the question, what is Jesus worth? It all depends on how you understand Jesus and what you understand him to be. If he is truly what the Bible says that he is, then nothing we can ever give him would be adequate in our surrender to him. And if he's just another man, why waste our time? Why not find something more agreeable to our own agendas? So let me ask you the question again, what is Jesus worth to you, what is he worth to me? What are we willing to lay down or pick up simply because we love Jesus as he first loved us? I want to talk about that in the remainder of the time that we have and I want to do that under sort of three general headings. And the first is this, is Jesus worth cultivating a deeper relationship with? Is he worth expending the time and the energy to get to know him better? Jesus in his high priestly prayer, John chapter 17, "Now this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Peter 2, Peter 3, 18, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Jesus take time and they take effort. They're like a fire, fail to put logs on the fire, the fire will die down. And a lot of us know that if we don't tend to the nearest relationships of our lives, we're going to pay for it because it takes time and it takes effort to develop a relationship with an other person and if Jesus is alive and if he's the most important person in all of the universe, that you and I depend on not only for time and for eternity, how much energy are you and I willing to expend to get to know him better? We talked last week about three of more than a dozen spiritual disciplines, the discipline of prayer and the discipline of Bible reading and the discipline of corporate worship and we saw that none of these in and of themselves will make us a holy because holiness and life comes from Jesus. But they can put us in a posture, they can put us in a position where Jesus can break through the noise and the busyness of our days and he can reveal himself to our hearts in ways that will change us forever. So let me ask you the question, is Jesus worth spending time in prayer? Is he worth identifying the best part of your day when you are in the best space so that you can give him the best undivided attention so you can cultivate a personal, private relationship with the living God? Is he worth getting up for earlier, changing your schedule, making sure that the urgent priorities of your life don't press out the important priorities of your life. Bill Heimels many years ago, one of the first books he wrote, wrote a book called Too Busy Not to Pray. Martin Luther said at one particular point in time how he was going to spend his time when there was so much to do and he said I would spend the first four hours in prayer trying to identify who God is and what God has for me because it helps me center my life. How much are you willing to adjust your lifestyle to cultivate your relationship with the Lord? Bible study, Bible reading, we talked last week about how the purpose of the scriptures is to point us to Jesus, Jesus in Luke chapter 24 after his resurrection talking with the two on the way to Emmaus opening their eyes the Bible says in Luke 24 27 beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. How much of your time are you willing to sacrifice to read scripture and to find in scripture God's wisdom to direct your life? Corporate worship, what are you willing to alter in your schedule to make sure that you're here Sunday after Sunday I've said this before the average evangelical church any given worship service a third of its congregation is missing and I've often said yes there are many legitimate reasons but are you and I willing to adjust our lives so that we can as much as possible be home on a weekend are we willing to go to bed on time on Saturday night so that we can be prepared to get up on time and get the family ready and and be in a space where I have something to contribute to the worship rather than just depending on other people to carry me through. Am I prepared to make the corporate worship of God a significant priority in my life because God is building a community of people that get together so that they can fan each other's fire and grow up in the grace that in the knowledge of God. What is Jesus worth is he worth changing our schedules then is he worth and this gets worse so relax is he worth changing your lifestyle for. You know this verse on Corinthians 517 if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has gone behold the new has come we've talked about it often if you're in Christ from God's perspective you've you've cast your lot in with the kingdom of God he considers you a new creation we've also talked about the fact that just because positionally we're a new creation doesn't mean that that new creation has worked its way into all parts of our lives because if that were the case then we would all be glorious saints instead of just the kind of miserable saints that we are some of the time. The Bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and Paul writing to the Ephesians verses that have often quoted here admonishes you and me put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds put on the new nature created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Let me ask you is Jesus worth trying to change your lifestyle over? When you're in prayer and he convicts you of sin are you willing to address that sin and deal with it? When you read scripture and you discover in scripture values that are the opposite to what your cherished values are that you have grown up with and that you cling to so desperately are you willing to let him adjust those values in your life? And when you live life coasting along with certain practices and certain habits certain sources of comfort that are unbiblical and ungodly that lead you away from God and he comes along and he says I want you to deal with the sins of the past not only I want you to deal with the brokenness in your life that leads you to it are you willing to let him address those and change them? I love the way Psalm 139 puts it a Psalm of David search me oh God and know my heart test me and know my anxious thoughts see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting let me be very honest with you this is where the rubber hits the road I've pastored a long time I know the liabilities and the struggles of my own life not only but the liabilities and the struggles of God's people and I can tell you that if there is one place where people get off the beaten track and wander away from God this is the area it always astonishes me it shouldn't because I know my own heart but it astonishes me the degree to which we want to compromise our commitment to Jesus just because we want to hang on to stuff that Jesus is is going to hurt us and rob him of his glory and I can think of so many people that have been through this place and I'm grateful for the opportunity that we've had to minister into people's lives but I also know that for a lot of people they go this far you know it's like the parable of the sower right some seed never takes root some seed starts but then it withers because it's on rocky soil other seed grows this high but then it gets crowded out by the thorns and the weeds and then there is the soil their seed that falls into good soil that bears good fruit God wants your life in my life to be conformed to the image of Christ and if we love Jesus is he worth paying the price to have him grow us up in obedience to his will Jesus puts it this way in the Sermon on the Mount not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the wheel of my father who was in heaven and I know the objection that we all come up with can't do it don't want to do it if you knew you know what my family was like or the people that I have to live with or what all happened in in my life then then you would yeah I understand all too well I have probably heard about the worst of the worst in terms of people's lives where they come from and what they've done but I also believe that Jesus is bigger and I also believe that when he says we are a new creation in him and that if we will but come to him in brokenness and in humility and with integrity then he will show us the way and he will either give us the grace to to rise above the sin or else he will give us the grace to walk through it in a way that honors his name and that makes us reflect his character he is more than able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think but see we got to humble ourselves and we have to avail ourselves of the means of grace sometimes people say to me well you know I can't none of us can but are you even asking for help are you even opening your heart up to somebody are you honoring the scriptures that says confess your sins to one another pray for one another so that you can be healed God in Christ in the context of the community gives us what we need and we need to stop making excuses because the purpose of the gospel is to prepare for God a people who are obedient from the heart you're awfully quiet and none of us will be there perfectly but are you willing to go there and trust the Lord to do the work that needs to be done you've often heard me quote these verses from Hebrews chapter 2 see to it brothers that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God but encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness sin is deceitful it wants to rob us from our walk with God so let me ask you one more time the question what is Jesus worth to you is he worth letting him speak into your heart to change the things that need changing to reconcile the places that need to be reconciled and to be what God by his grace is calling us to be him not suggesting we just you know try to make ourselves holy I'm suggesting that if we walk after the spirit the spirit will tell us what we need to do and if we will follow him we will get stronger and stronger and he will lead us to life but none of us has the right to dig in and say I'm not going to do this because of Jesus is Lord he has the authority to tell you and me what he wants us to do so what's Jesus worth is he worth spending time with so that we get to know him better is he worth letting him change and challenge our lifestyle so that we can become more like Jesus and then is he worth sharing in his mission what's his mission Matthew 28 tells us clearly all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you why did Jesus come into the world to unite all things in heaven and on earth by the blood of his cross and to build the kingdom of God where people are rightly related to God they experience the blessings of God they live God's way and God is building a society that is reflective of his values that's why I love our mission statement and I love our vision statement our vision statement to be a Biblically functioning community through which the redemptive purposes of God can be made known to the nations of the world that's the promise he gave to Abraham we are the offspring of Abraham we share through Christ in that mission our vision statement is that our mission statement you know reach the lost heal the broken equip the saints release the workers Jesus said as the Father sent me John chapter 20 verse 21 as the Father sent me I am sending you so let me ask you this morning are you prepared to submit your agenda to God's agenda and his will for your life people often say well you know how do I get to know what it is that God wants me to do in my life and the biblical answer is it's not as complicated as we make it to be it starts by giving him the right to determine what he wants us to do and where he wants us to go Romans chapter 12 1 & 2 I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will we give him what we have and he says okay this is this is how I have made you this is how I have gifted you this is how I want to use you is he worth giving up our dreams our hopes our plans our ambitions for the sake of his greater purpose his kingdom that is going to last forever closely tied up with that is he worth giving him my time talent and treasure Peter 1 Peter 4 10 and 11 each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms if anyone speaks he should do it as one speaking the very words of God if anyone serves he should do it with a strength God's provides so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ you were bought with a price you were no longer your own when you stood up here or in another church and you said yes to Jesus you said you are my Lord and I give you full control over my life and he says I'm giving you gifts of time and talent and treasure and I want you to use those for the building of my kingdom that means we commit ourselves to what God is after which is reaching the lost healing the broken equipping the saints and releasing the workers it means too that in my daily life not all of us are called to be in full-time ministry so to speak in my daily life my question always is Lord how can I glorify you by what I do and how I do it as a Christian can my life my walk my relationship with my co-workers my approach to business or my approach to my employer or whoever can I reflect your values in my life whatever you do work at it with all your heart Paul says to the church to the Colossians as working for the Lord not for man is he worth sharing in his mission is he worth identifying the places where in the world he is working to build his kingdom and are we prepared to utilize what he has given to us many of us do this we can all grow and if you're here today and you've never learned to tithe for example this will be a very good place to start start small take a little bit of what you have on a regular basis and put it in the offering plate as a token of obedience to the Lord and if you haven't got it then cut back on your candies or your cigarettes or whatever else you're spending it on sacrifices are pleasing to God because they demonstrate a transformed and a changed heart are you hearing me what is Jesus worth to you is he worth spending time on to get to know better is he worth modifying your life so that you grow in the holiness of Jesus is he worth sharing in his mission I know it's hard work it's costly but all of us spend a lot more time effort and energy and goals that are far less lofty than the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords we need to understand that it's a privilege you and I have to share in the ministry of Jesus because he is going to reward us in glory beyond anything that we can imagine is he worth giving him your all will you be a fanatic for Jesus if you do to closing observations number one the more passionate you are for Jesus the more criticism you will face remember this story why this waste of perfume it could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor and they rebuked her harshly see worldly people don't know Jesus they don't know his value remember he is the stone rejected by the builders but in God's wisdom become the head of the corner you don't know that unless God has opened your eyes and so when you and I make time for prayer or you and I make time for Bible reading or you and I forsake the busyness of the world to gather for corporate worship when you and I are excited and passionate about Jesus there will be lots of people around you sometimes including the closest members of your family who will say oh come on don't be so fanatic don't be so passionate just be like the rest of us get used to it the world doesn't mind showing their craziness or their enthusiasm at a sporting event we've all been there but to be passionate about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords takes the revelation of God's Holy Spirit so the more the church shines the more somebody in your life will say how much money are you giving away not true the more somebody will say go into another church meeting how about all the poor that are out there Jesus is the poor you will always have with you you only got me until my crucifixion she has chosen the better portion she anointed my body for burial she had it right that's one observation second observation this passionate worship is what the gospel is meant to produce I wonder if you noticed as we read this passage Jesus does two things first of all he defends her against her critics he says to her leave her alone she's done a good thing but then notice how he ends his little talk here's what he says I tell you the truth wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world what she has done will also be told in memory of her wherever the gospel goes this story is going to be told why because this is the purpose of the gospel the purpose of the gospel is to change us from consumers to producers the purpose of the gospel is to change us from self-centered individuals for whom everything revolves around ourselves to people to men and women of faith whose life is focused on God so that out of our relationship with God we can pour out ourselves in service and worship to him and in service to one another wherever the gospel goes this story is going to be told so I leave you with two questions number one who is Jesus to you is he who the Bible says that he is have you caught a glimpse of his glory if you haven't ask him for it that's the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus ask and you will receive seek and you will find knock and it will be opened we are not children of the dark we're children of the light God has promised to show us the glory of God on the face of Jesus you don't have to be emotional you don't have to be of a certain temperament you don't have to be of a certain nationality to know in your heart of hearts that Jesus Christ is worth it all so ask him for that revelation and then here's what I want to leave you as as you as you appropriate the degree of revelation that he has given you then would you ask yourself this question what is it that Jesus is inviting me out of my love for him to lay down or to take up lay down my own agenda take up his agenda lay down my pride take up his humility lay down my besetting sin and take up his righteousness lay down the places where I stubbornly refuse to submit to the authority of scripture or the authority of people that God places in my life take up a humble and a willing spirit that says yes to Jesus because he is worth it of he is worth it all because you see at the end of the day the kingdom of God does not belong to the people who take it by worldly force it belongs to people who have taken up the cross who have followed Jesus who have learned to trust God the Father and who will receive from God the Father the kingdom the blessings both in time and in eternity you see that's the conclusion that Nick Ripken came up with after his 60 nation journey and 600 interviewers interviews asking the question how come the Lord allows such incredible suffering to so many of his people all over the world and he called his book the insanity of God because at the end of the day it's all about the cross of Jesus it's not the loudmouths it's not the persecutors it's not the people who think they own the world who are going to inherit the world it is to come it belongs to the children of God who make God their priority because they see the worthiness of the Lord Jesus and they serve him in good times and in bad times because they know in the Lord no good deed will ever go unrewarded one more time what is Jesus worth to you only you can answer that question [CUT] [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:49:06.990; remove through 00:49:14.000] you [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:49:14.000; resume after this marked segment]