WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:02.340 I'm going to invite you to John 11. 00:00:02.420 --> 00:00:03.610 John 11 is where we're going to be today. 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:10.300 As you turn to this section of scripture, I'm excited to approach this text for a few reasons. 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:17.360 One being is just this week, and into this weekend, I was reminded just really how blessed we are here at Alpine Bible Church. 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:22.380 We have a wonderful church family, and I got to see that in action over the last few days. 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:29.320 You, guys, aren't always aware of the things that are happening through our church because as a pastor, I got my hands in all kinds of things. 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:33.680 I know sometimes it isn't always passed along to you the different things that we're doing. 00:00:33.680 --> 00:00:36.620 But we've always got our food pantry ministry happening here on Tuesday nights. 00:00:37.300 --> 00:00:38.460 We're providing meals to the community. 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:41.680 Sometimes we'll have up to about 100 families come through for that. 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:45.230 And that's been a blessing to be able to care for our community in that way. 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.160 This weekend, we had men's group here, and we did our outreach booth in the park. 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:52.800 Well, I got to see that we have a very outward-focused church. 00:00:53.120 --> 00:00:54.780 It's a beautiful thing to see. 00:00:54.780 --> 00:01:01.700 On Sundays now at three o'clock here at our church for the last few weeks, we have a Mandarin service that we're offering here at our church. 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:05.680 And so we're reaching out and making a difference. 00:01:07.350 --> 00:01:14.270 I shared with you a few months ago there's a young lady in Uganda that is in some serious need of some surgery. 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:19.890 And so, we're still working on getting her here, but it's looking optimistic for her in being able to getting some care. 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:27.740 This week, working on getting some training to some pastors in a foreign country that have a heart to continue to reach 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:28.500 their country. 00:01:28.860 --> 00:01:31.450 There's need for some further education to be able to plant churches. 00:01:31.940 --> 00:01:32.840 And so we've been working on that. 00:01:32.860 --> 00:01:40.020 Been talking to some churches that are interested in working with us to plant more churches in Utah, church 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.340 in Florida and Colorado. 00:01:42.700 --> 00:01:45.300 It's incredible to see what God is doing. 00:01:45.320 --> 00:01:49.540 I think it's not about just heralding what we do as a church. 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:51.320 I love what we do as a church. 00:01:51.320 --> 00:01:59.440 I love our heart as a church, but what makes that happen, why our church, I think, tends to be a church that's outward focused and just 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:04.960 being used for the Lord is what's driving our heart's desire. 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:07.620 We're a people that love God's Word. 00:02:07.720 --> 00:02:09.600 We open God's Word to learn. 00:02:09.880 --> 00:02:12.320 We open our hearts to love. 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:18.900 We're devoted to one another, and we care about the state of these wholes of people in our community. 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:26.460 And it's resting in that conviction and being faithful to that and really waking up each day with 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:32.500 that desire of being surrendered to the Lord, to let God lead our lives, to make a difference in this valley. 00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:37.040 We can come in church and be flashy and hype things up. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:44.520 I think it's easy to create a crowd, but the proof in the pudding is the consistency of God's people living out discipleship day 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.840 to day for His glory to the benefit of others. 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:55.340 And that's the thing I love about ABC, is we can get excited, and we can celebrate the things that God does, and we should do that, to rejoice in the things 00:02:55.340 --> 00:02:58.290 that God is continuing to do in our church over the years. 00:02:58.540 --> 00:03:05.620 But the thing I love about our church is year after year, we've just been faithful to the Lord and we have just continued a 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:08.200 steady growth in making a difference in this community. 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:16.240 One of the highlights that I love is when we're, like this past week, going to the booth and doing 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:23.560 outreach here in the park at Wines Park, having people from the community come up to us and say how thankful they are for 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:25.590 our church, and they're not even a part of it. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:34.100 I saw a couple of weeks ago someone asking for what church they should check out in our valley, and people were promoting our church that 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:34.940 aren't even a part of our church. 00:03:34.940 --> 00:03:41.960 Some churches, they may close their door one day and the community doesn't even skip a beat, could care less that the church 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:42.520 has gone. 00:03:43.260 --> 00:03:46.680 But I love the fact that if something were to happen to ABC, the community would miss it. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:52.400 I believe that's the beauty of Jesus working in His people to make a difference on where we are. 00:03:53.220 --> 00:04:01.280 And when I come to a passage like John 11, the end of this chapter into chapter 12 is 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:08.350 a very adverse chapter, that you start to see tension building around Jesus. 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:15.200 And in this tension is a very telling moment in the lives of where people are in Christ. 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:22.460 In fact, if you got sermon notes this morning, if you picked those up, the first point I want you to see in this passage this morning is that adversity 00:04:22.460 --> 00:04:24.460 is revealing. 00:04:24.460 --> 00:04:25.120 You can give me a click. 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:26.020 There it is. 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:28.000 Adversity is revealing. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:34.380 What I mean is when tension builds in our life, it's like throwing gasoline on a fire. 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:40.700 It very quickly pushes the heart into a direction of where your faith is truly resting. 00:04:41.320 --> 00:04:48.520 When you go through either a moment in life that becomes very tense or just a season of life intense, it becomes very revealing in 00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:52.790 some of the things that your heart leans to, where your faith might go. 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:54.560 Sometimes you find some good things. 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:58.400 And other times you find areas of your life needs to grow in the Lord. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.380 Adversity is a very telling thing for our lives. 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:08.500 In fact, that's how James 1 starts, when James is writing his book to a persecuted church, he says, "Consider it all joy, my brother, when you face various trials, 00:05:08.840 --> 00:05:15.980 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect work." Sometimes we look at things that are difficult in life and are like, "I don't want that." 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:16.080 Right? 00:05:16.140 --> 00:05:23.530 I'm not telling you this morning, "Go find hard things to see where you are in Jesus." What I'm saying is when you look at your life and you go through moments that feel tense, 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:30.760 whether just maybe an argument or just a season of life, it's revealing of where your faith goes, right? 00:05:31.340 --> 00:05:34.040 Anyone can say they follow Jesus when it's easy to follow Jesus. 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:43.380 But the proof of whether or not your faith in Jesus really rests on Him as a rock is 00:05:43.380 --> 00:05:46.020 found when you go through hardship in life. 00:05:46.780 --> 00:05:50.370 I know in saying that you can look at your life and be like, "We had an argument on the way to church. 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:52.340 Couldn't get the kids in the car, man. 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:59.760 I'm already feeling bad." Look, I'm not telling you we're looking for perfection here, right? 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:07.160 Walking with Jesus is a journey, and adversity is one of those places in life where we get a very 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:10.640 quick way of looking at where our heart tends to go. 00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:18.340 When you're in John 11, John 11 is that miracle that happens that Jesus performs. 00:06:18.340 --> 00:06:20.600 It's the raising of Lazarus from the grave. 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:26.800 And there is no bigger catalyst that has led to the death of Jesus in scripture than the resurrection of Lazarus. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:32.300 I mean, when you go through the gospel of John, you see Jesus performing all kinds of miracles, people getting frustrated by Jesus, right? 00:06:32.700 --> 00:06:39.800 But there's one miracle in particular that is the strongest catalyst that leads to the crucifixion of Jesus, and 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.840 it's the resurrection of Lazarus. 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:48.480 When you read the gospel of John, there are six miracles in the gospel of John that are unique to the rest of the gospels. 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:52.460 1 John 2, turning water into wine. 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:57.660 Chapter four, Jesus heals the son of a political leader. 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.410 Chapter five, Jesus heals the paralytic. 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:07.500 Chapter nine, Jesus heals the blind man, chapter 11, he raises Lazarus from the grave. 00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:09.880 And then chapter 21, he's going to make a bunch of fish up here. 00:07:10.280 --> 00:07:17.560 But this miracle is the catalytic miracle that really leads 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:19.560 to the crucifixion of Jesus. 00:07:19.780 --> 00:07:27.100 This is where the adversity comes, and it's very revealing as to where people's faith is in 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:27.750 Christ. 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:32.540 It's a good place for us to consider our own position in walking with Jesus. 00:07:32.580 --> 00:07:37.620 I like the way Paul says it in Galatians 2:20, he says, "I am crucified with Christ. 00:07:37.960 --> 00:07:45.100 Nevertheless, that's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me." The way Paul describes his life in Jesus is he defines himself as 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.680 a dead man to the things of this world because his life is found in Christ. 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:51.600 He's dead to the world and alive to Jesus. 00:07:51.740 --> 00:07:58.870 Now, when you think about your journey in this world, if you took that same life verse and made it about you, 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:00.380 "That I am crucified with Christ. 00:08:00.400 --> 00:08:07.520 Nevertheless, it's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me," what we find in life when we don't always follow Jesus, is that there's a part of us 00:08:07.520 --> 00:08:08.320 that's not dead yet. 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:16.940 I mean, what Paul is saying there is, "You can't really tempt a dead man because he can't care about those things." In our lives, we're 00:08:17.020 --> 00:08:23.300 called to be dead to the world but alive to Christ, live His mission, His calling in our lives in this world. 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:30.700 But we find when we walk this world is we're not perfect, and adversity tends to reveal that sometimes, areas of my life that 00:08:30.700 --> 00:08:35.120 become exposed where I need to learn to die Jesus, I'm not fully dead yet. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.780 I'm not completely crucified in my desires to want to pursue Christ. 00:08:39.900 --> 00:08:41.440 And so, this is where we pick up in the passage. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:49.460 In John 11:45, it says this, "Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:56.560 saw what He had done believed in Him." So he's saying the Jews came to Mary's, which Mary is the sister 00:08:56.560 --> 00:09:00.840 of Lazarus, and they saw what Jesus had done in resurrecting Lazarus. 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:02.020 And they're believing in Him, right? 00:09:02.020 --> 00:09:09.240 Verse 46, "But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done." 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:15.920 And so we see in verse 45 and verse 46 is that there's Team Religion verse Team Jesus. 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:23.220 You don't really see Team Jesus verse Team Religion here, but Team Religion is coming against Jesus in this passage to the point where some 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:30.240 people are believing, but other people that are rejecting Jesus are then going to the Pharisees, and they're creating their camps, 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:30.520 right? 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:38.460 The people are really dividing the aisle between who is for Jesus and who is against Jesus. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.800 And so, in this passage, adversity becomes a good spiritual evaluator for people. 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:47.800 It reveals really their integrity in Christ. 00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:55.360 And then verse 47 it goes on, "Therefore, the chief priest and the Pharisees convene the council and 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:00.540 we're saying, 'What are we doing, for this man is performing many signs. 00:10:01.520 --> 00:10:08.580 If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both 00:10:08.580 --> 00:10:15.860 our place in our nation.' But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year said to them, 'You know 00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:22.960 nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:30.220 people and that the whole nation not perish.'" So verse 47 to 50, what you see is Team 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:33.180 Religion is revealing really their game plan. 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:40.980 And they're telling us in this passage why they have this disdain or this hatred towards Jesus, to 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:42.890 the point they're talking about killing Jesus. 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:51.140 What you find in their responses in verse 48, their purpose in wanting to pursue up to Christ to kill Christ has nothing 00:10:51.140 --> 00:10:52.340 to do with the truth. 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:56.060 It rather has to do with convenience. 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:06.180 And you see in this passage what they're discussing is not whether or not what Jesus is saying is true and what Jesus has done is a demonstration of 00:11:06.180 --> 00:11:06.580 the truth. 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:07.420 They don't even care about that. 00:11:09.780 --> 00:11:15.060 What they're recognizing is that the things that Jesus is doing is not going to be convenient for them, right? 00:11:15.400 --> 00:11:22.420 He's saying, "They'll take away both our place and our nation." And so, they're coming to this passage 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:29.200 wanting to kill Jesus for the purpose of convenience in their own lives. 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:36.940 And so, in verse 51, "Now, he did not say this on his own 00:11:36.940 --> 00:11:44.000 initiative," talking about Caiaphas, "but being a high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:45.200 to die for the nation. 00:11:46.660 --> 00:11:53.800 And not for the nation only, but in order that he might also gather together into one the children 00:11:53.840 --> 00:12:00.880 of God who are scattered abroad." When you read verses 47 to 50, it's 00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:03.220 easy to walk away and be like, "That's a dumb idea." Right? 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.640 I understand that they want to get rid of Jesus because it's not convenient to their plan. 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:11.920 And Jesus as the Messiah is not fitting what they want their Messiah to be. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:13.460 But nonetheless, it's true. 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:17.760 They're not picking the truth because they want to choose what's convenient. 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:22.840 But they decide in order to achieve that, what is necessary is to kill Jesus. 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:24.680 That's a dumb idea, right? 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:32.620 If you ever get to the end of your decision and it relates to killing Jesus, you should probably not pursue that decision. 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:39.130 But here's the comfort with that, guys, in verse 51 and 52, Jesus is still in control. 00:12:41.900 --> 00:12:49.180 It's the comforting words of the story in the middle of this darkness that here comes adversity, adversity is 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:55.880 revealing to where people's hearts are, it's like throwing gasoline on the fire, and they make this horrible decision. 00:12:56.540 --> 00:13:01.900 When you see the ramifications of people's dumb decisions, sometimes it can stress us out. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:04.370 It gets us in this doomsday attitude. 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:12.220 You try to find the light at the end of the tunnel, but the reminder in this verse is that God is always in control. 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:15.120 That's what he says, right? 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.120 He's not saying this on his own initiative. 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:27.900 It's interesting how God does this, He's saying, "Look, people will be responsible for the decisions." People 00:13:27.900 --> 00:13:35.000 are responsible for their decisions, but God is ultimately in control, and God gets the 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:35.440 final say. 00:13:38.040 --> 00:13:38.880 God gets the final say. 00:13:40.620 --> 00:13:48.060 So when you think about our circumstance, the Bible promises in Romans 8 that God works all things together for 00:13:48.060 --> 00:13:55.280 good, that god sees our struggle, God sees our suffering, God sees the ramifications that we endure because of the actions 00:13:55.280 --> 00:13:57.620 of others, and even sometimes because of our actions. 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:01.560 God can work it all out for good. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:10.000 One of the things I love about these two verses is to consider it like this: sometimes we might 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.160 realize in this story that we are a lot like Caiaphas. 00:14:15.140 --> 00:14:21.720 I want to be careful here, when we read about Team Religion verse Team Jesu, that we don't just read this and be like, "Those guys are awful. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:23.060 How evil are those guys? 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:28.520 I hate those guys, those bad guys," but to recognize within this story there's a piece of Caiaphas in all of us. 00:14:31.010 --> 00:14:38.060 That sometimes we choose convenience over Jesus because we 00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:40.820 love our idols more than we love Christ. 00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:46.530 Adversity has a way of revealing those things to us. 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:53.780 But if your heart is given over to Jesus as a disciple of Jesus, you know what to do with that, right? 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:56.910 You can come to Jesus and surrender it to Jesus. 00:14:57.940 --> 00:15:05.000 And here's one of the beautiful things that we see in this passage here is, when I wrong people or I've ever done something 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:11.800 that maybe even just a stupid thing where I just said something, I'm like, "If I had just thought for two more seconds before I said that, I would have not said that. 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:16.640 I can't take that back now." You find that might hurt someone else. 00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:23.660 And all of a sudden, being in a room with someone that you might have hurt, or maybe the same thing that's happened to you where someone's done something to hurt you, being in 00:15:23.660 --> 00:15:24.460 that room is awkward. 00:15:24.520 --> 00:15:29.040 Here's what we expect as people: when we do something to offend someone else and that person would hate us, right? 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.720 They would at least be angry at us and maybe want to be vengeful towards us. 00:15:33.920 --> 00:15:38.220 And maybe even your life, you might struggle with that if someone has been that way towards you. 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:41.080 But here's what Jesus says, "You hate me. 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.580 I love you." And that's what these verses are. 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:54.640 He's still coming even though they have this disdain towards Christ to the point that their evil is leading to the crucifixion 00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:57.460 of Jesus, that Jesus still chooses to give His life for them. 00:15:59.420 --> 00:16:00.920 And He's in control of it all. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:09.400 What that says for me looking at this passage, rather than just put all of the responsibility on Caiaphas 00:16:09.400 --> 00:16:18.040 here, but using this to examine my own heart is to recognize that there is a place for me when 00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:25.220 I fail that the love of Christ is still made known, that though there are times 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:32.640 where I may give up on Jesus and choose convenience, that Jesus doesn't give up on me, that 00:16:32.660 --> 00:16:34.550 He is still in control. 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:40.260 It goes on from there, verse 53. 00:16:40.540 --> 00:16:43.360 From that day on, they plan together to kill Him. 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:51.900 "Therefore, Jesus no longer continue to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city 00:16:51.900 --> 00:16:54.900 called Ephraim." So I guess he's in Utah, right? 00:16:56.420 --> 00:16:59.360 I don't believe that. 00:16:59.540 --> 00:17:02.120 "Is he serious, does he think Jesus in Utah? 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:04.740 "And there He stayed with the disciples. 00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:11.700 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. 00:17:12.060 --> 00:17:18.140 So they were seeking for Jesus and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, 'What do you think? 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:25.400 That he will not come to the feast at all?' Now, the chief priest and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:32.520 was, He was to report it so that they might seize Him." A 00:17:32.520 --> 00:17:33.240 couple of things here. 00:17:33.760 --> 00:17:40.860 One of the reasons that we often say Jesus' ministry lasted three to three and a half years is because of the 00:17:41.100 --> 00:17:42.900 markings in John that indicate this. 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:47.280 So in John 2, it talks about when Jesus had begun His public ministry. 00:17:47.280 --> 00:17:48.560 John 2 is Passover. 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:51.440 In John 6, it talks about a Passover. 00:17:52.060 --> 00:17:56.140 And in John 11, here we are again, talking about a Passover. 00:17:56.260 --> 00:18:03.780 And so from John 2 to John 11, what you see is three Passovers, which would indicate to us that Jesus' ministry would have lasted three 00:18:03.780 --> 00:18:04.340 years, right? 00:18:04.600 --> 00:18:11.780 And so, you look at those markers, the way the story is told, if John is doing this chronologically or he's not sharing the same Passover 00:18:11.780 --> 00:18:19.100 story taking place in multiple occasions, if it's done chronologically, what it's saying to us is Jesus' ministry lasted 00:18:19.100 --> 00:18:21.720 three years or just over three years. 00:18:22.560 --> 00:18:30.340 In this section, it's indicating to us that the religious leaders, they're going to the temple because they recognize in 00:18:30.340 --> 00:18:32.140 their lives they need purified. 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:34.650 They need purified. 00:18:35.100 --> 00:18:42.300 But what is ironic in this section of scripture is that while they're recognizing their life needs 00:18:42.300 --> 00:18:50.360 purified, they're embracing religion over God and 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:54.060 convenience over truth. 00:18:55.300 --> 00:19:00.360 It's amazing that the religious leaders in this story, they want to kill God. 00:19:01.320 --> 00:19:08.400 It's saying to us, "Look, you can be moral, you can be religious, you can be a person that 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:15.900 does good and still not have a relationship with God." Because 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:17.130 they're depending on themselves. 00:19:19.900 --> 00:19:25.880 Adversity is revealing, and you see it in this moment with Jesus. 00:19:26.020 --> 00:19:28.990 Thrown in the resurrection of Lazarus, they don't like this. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:35.460 Jesus isn't fitting their preconceived ideas and expectations of who the Messiah should be. 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:39.420 It's not convenient for them to embrace them because they're going to lose their position power. 00:19:41.360 --> 00:19:41.860 And it's ugly. 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.260 This moment is ugly. 00:19:45.280 --> 00:19:52.300 But then on the backdrop of this story, in the middle of this tense moment, you get a 00:19:53.600 --> 00:19:59.660 beautiful illustration of what God desires for all of us. 00:20:00.360 --> 00:20:05.140 In this chaos, you see this beautiful story unfolding in John 12. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:13.340 And here's what we find in the midst of this adversity, that when our soul might war 00:20:13.340 --> 00:20:20.660 within us like Caiaphas against God, adversity is revealing, but worship, 00:20:23.320 --> 00:20:24.660 worship is healing. 00:20:27.420 --> 00:20:33.130 John 12:1, you see Mary in this moment. 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:40.780 Mary is completely aware of how polarizing the events of Lazarus have 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.800 been to her community and her people. 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:45.520 I mean, she's right there in the middle of it. 00:20:46.600 --> 00:20:47.940 She knows the tension. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:54.520 She's there to see the tension, that the Pharisees are dividing the people for Jesus or against Jesus. 00:20:55.060 --> 00:21:02.420 It's inflaming in relationship, maybe brother against brother, 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.640 or children against parents all over this topic of Jesus. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:07.320 But what does Mary do? 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:10.400 Mary just worships. 00:21:11.820 --> 00:21:14.180 She worships Christ over adversity. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:21.420 Look at this, "Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:24.180 was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:31.760 So they made him a supper there and Mary was serving, but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 00:21:31.860 --> 00:21:38.920 And Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:42.450 and wiped His feet with her hair. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:50.480 And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." Man, that's a beautiful story, isn't 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:52.220 it? 00:21:52.600 --> 00:21:59.940 I mean, you think in your life right now, maybe 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:08.020 you could even contemplate in your mind when we talk about how adversity is revealing your own failures, where 00:22:08.020 --> 00:22:15.180 you've struggled in your walk with God, and you're like, "What do I do with this?" Even last night, just some of the dumbest 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:16.720 decisions I was making. 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:23.560 What should my soul do?" And the answer is just illustrated right here with Mary. 00:22:28.040 --> 00:22:28.040 Worship. 00:22:28.040 --> 00:22:33.240 That's what Jesus wants for you because that is what transforms you. 00:22:35.020 --> 00:22:35.560 It's worship. 00:22:37.300 --> 00:22:38.740 It's not this idea of paying penance. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:40.700 It's not this idea of walking in guilt. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:45.580 It's this idea of just laying it all down to Jesus and coming in worship because worship is what's healing. 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:52.300 Now, I think for us on a Sunday morning, if I told you, what's the number one goal for us as a church? 00:22:53.060 --> 00:22:55.100 There's a lot of subgoals that we could have. 00:22:55.120 --> 00:22:56.690 This morning, I want you to learn the Bible. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:59.420 We could walk out more knowledgeable in scripture. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:01.260 I want us to enjoy each other as a community. 00:23:01.280 --> 00:23:02.160 We should love each other. 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:03.360 That's a great thing. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:04.060 That's a good goal. 00:23:04.080 --> 00:23:11.180 But more than anything, more than anything, when we walk out together, my hope is that your heart 00:23:11.800 --> 00:23:12.400 is in worship. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:15.590 That's what changes your life. 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:20.920 That's where the transition happens from the things of this world to the things of God. 00:23:21.340 --> 00:23:24.300 That's where you become what Paul says, "I'm crucified with Christ. 00:23:24.340 --> 00:23:31.270 Nevertheless, it's not I who live, but Christ who lives within me." And that's what Mary does in this story. 00:23:31.480 --> 00:23:37.920 In that moment, that was chaotic, intense, Mary's heart is to worship. 00:23:38.420 --> 00:23:45.180 When you read about Mary in the Bible, all the beautiful things about her, she's such a great example, she's always at the of Jesus. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.920 Mary is always at the feet of Jesus. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:56.140 When Lazarus dies, Jesus at the cross, here in this moment, Mary's at the feet of Jesus. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:03.260 And what we learn about Mary's worship is that Mary's worship, it's selfless. 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:05.940 And that's really what worship is, isn't it? 00:24:05.980 --> 00:24:06.900 It's not about you. 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:07.480 It's about Him. 00:24:07.520 --> 00:24:08.780 Worship is selfless. 00:24:08.920 --> 00:24:16.090 Worship is answering this question, how do I from my heart take all of the resources, 00:24:17.100 --> 00:24:24.180 time, and ability that God has given me to honor Him in this moment or in this season of 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:24.520 life? 00:24:24.560 --> 00:24:26.750 That's the question worship answers. 00:24:28.760 --> 00:24:35.920 What's the best way for me right now in this moment or season of life to use the time, talents, or abilities God has given me 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:36.730 to honor Him? 00:24:38.340 --> 00:24:40.380 That's worship, and that's what Mary does. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.180 And then verse four, it goes on a little bit further, and it helps us see that worship... 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:48.840 Different than the religious leaders. 00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:54.540 Religious leaders, they're not about embracing the truth or about embracing what's convenient. 00:24:54.800 --> 00:24:55.710 That's what we've seen together. 00:24:56.420 --> 00:25:00.530 But worship is about embracing the truth no matter the cost. 00:25:02.460 --> 00:25:06.760 Well, I hope for us that's the kind of people that we desire to be. 00:25:07.620 --> 00:25:14.720 Because that's the kind of people that we should be leaning into with all of our heart, because when we recognize our culture today, it's 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:19.660 not easy or convenient anymore to be a Christian, right? 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:26.720 In following after Jesus, there's a way in pursuing Jesus that's going to make you different than this world. 00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:35.000 Christians, people that pursue Jesus genuinely, we don't have the majority of society anymore. 00:25:35.980 --> 00:25:42.480 And so, society is going to dictate or try to dictate to us what it should look like to walk in this world. 00:25:42.580 --> 00:25:43.600 But that's not who we are. 00:25:45.520 --> 00:25:50.480 Pursuing the truth isn't always convenient, but pursuing the truth is what God calls us to do. 00:25:50.520 --> 00:25:52.560 And that's an aspect of worship. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:53.900 We worship in spirit and truth. 00:25:54.100 --> 00:25:54.960 That's what John says. 00:25:55.740 --> 00:26:02.800 In verse four, it goes on a little further, "But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples who was intending to betray Him 00:26:02.800 --> 00:26:10.020 said, 'Why was the perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor people?' Now, he said this not because 00:26:10.020 --> 00:26:13.040 he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:20.660 And as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it." A few things we recognized here with 00:26:20.660 --> 00:26:26.680 Mary, her worship is definitely selfless, and her worship is expensive. 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:28.580 It's extravagant. 00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:32.400 Mary's worship would have been the equivalent of a year's wages. 00:26:33.500 --> 00:26:36.440 A denarii was one day's wage. 00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:38.280 So you're looking at 300 days' wages. 00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:45.640 So if you get one day off a week, this is a year's wages that Mary is anointing Jesus 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:46.340 with in this story. 00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:52.360 And Mary's heart is certainly selfless in giving to Jesus this way. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.440 That's what true worship is, it's selfless worship. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.380 But here's what we find about Judas, he asks an interesting question, doesn't he, in verse five, "Why are you doing this? 00:27:00.420 --> 00:27:07.280 Why don't you give it to the poor?" If you just read verse five, there's reason to pause there and just consider what Jesus is saying. 00:27:07.520 --> 00:27:08.940 Is that the best way to spend money? 00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:15.980 We want to take the time, gifts, talents God has given us, and we want to use it the best we can for His glory. 00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:16.940 We want to be wise with it. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:23.840 We can't always dictate the way we give things over the Lord and how people might use it, but we can try to be wise about it. 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:30.240 Judas' question is a question maybe of piety, just to consider, is this the wisest thing to do? 00:27:30.520 --> 00:27:35.560 But what you find in the next verse is that Judas' heart really wasn't about being wise. 00:27:37.180 --> 00:27:40.820 Judas' reasons aren't even right. 00:27:42.280 --> 00:27:45.500 Judas isn't asking this question for the benefit of others. 00:27:46.520 --> 00:27:51.350 Judas in verse six is asking the question for the benefit of himself. 00:27:53.080 --> 00:27:56.380 Judas isn't following Jesus for Jesus' glory. 00:27:57.060 --> 00:28:04.140 Judas is following Jesus for his glory, and he's falling into the same trap that the religious leaders were falling 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:04.460 into. 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:08.780 We saw previously that what Judas is interested in is what's convenient for him. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:11.660 It's not about what's true. 00:28:12.340 --> 00:28:14.700 For him, it's about what is convenient. 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:20.420 And at first, his actions, or at least his question in verse five seems godly. 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:26.620 But when you start to see his heart, you realize it's a long way from the Lord. 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:34.780 This verse is really the first time that you get a behind the scenes look at what's going on in the life of Judas. 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:37.940 Scriptures start to reveal his attitude. 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:46.340 Thinking this, Judas walked with Jesus for three years. 00:28:48.700 --> 00:28:54.640 For three years he walked with Jesus, but he still wasn't given over to Jesus. 00:28:56.300 --> 00:29:02.160 Guys, as you serve Jesus in this world, you're going to run into people like Judas. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:04.420 It's going to happen. 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:08.620 It happened in the first century, and it continues to happen today. 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:16.720 I mean, you think Jesus had 12 disciples that He walked with intimately in life, and not even Jesus could 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:21.120 keep 12 people in faithfulness pursuing after Him. 00:29:21.180 --> 00:29:24.040 There was still a devil in the group. 00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:32.640 It's a reminder to us that even if Jesus was walking this earth couldn't see 12 people consistently walk, you think about what it is to pursue 00:29:32.780 --> 00:29:38.680 Jesus as a community here among us, that not everyone's always going to be faithful. 00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:44.760 But let me just encourage you, regardless of what other people do, stay faithful. 00:29:45.800 --> 00:29:46.360 And here's why. 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:50.920 It's not about them, it's about Jesus. 00:29:52.540 --> 00:29:59.880 If something bad happens in the life of someone else and that becomes my excuse to stop following Jesus, the question for me to ask is, 00:30:00.100 --> 00:30:02.600 "Was I really following Jesus to begin with? 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:06.620 Was someone else my enabler to my relationship with God? 00:30:07.360 --> 00:30:14.380 Or was it really about the worth of Jesus?" No matter what anyone else in this room does or doesn't do in 00:30:14.380 --> 00:30:18.980 their relationship with Jesus, you stay consistent in your relationship with Jesus. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:25.470 And not because it's convenient, but because it's true, and He is worthy. 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:27.820 Worship is healing. 00:30:30.780 --> 00:30:38.040 But you see in the story, Judas had a limit to his relationship with the Lord, just like the religious leaders 00:30:38.040 --> 00:30:39.580 pursuing what was convenient. 00:30:39.660 --> 00:30:46.740 So here's the question for you, do you have a limit to your 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:47.830 walk with Jesus? 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:53.680 Do you have a temptation that would lead you away from Christ? 00:30:56.080 --> 00:31:03.220 What one thing in life if you lost would that lead you or tempt 00:31:03.300 --> 00:31:05.600 you to stop following after Jesus? 00:31:08.080 --> 00:31:09.260 What is your idol? 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:18.440 What luxury do you not want to give up for Christ because it's more convenient to hold onto than to pursue the truth in knowing Him? 00:31:21.040 --> 00:31:21.960 Is it cultural pressure? 00:31:24.020 --> 00:31:25.940 Is it financial convenience? 00:31:27.840 --> 00:31:29.750 Is it political tension? 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:33.870 How about this, is it a coronavirus? 00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:43.920 I know there's a way to be wise when things like that happen in life, but I don't 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:48.800 find a verse in the Bible that says, "Follow Jesus and make disciples, unless there's a virus. 00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:52.840 Then put a timeout on until it's gone." That's not in scripture. 00:31:53.980 --> 00:31:56.100 It doesn't mean that you still pursue Jesus in the same way. 00:31:56.100 --> 00:32:01.870 You can change the way that you might honor Christ in your life, but it's never an excuse to stop pursuing Jesus in this world. 00:32:03.080 --> 00:32:09.000 Hard things are going to happen, but Jesus still rules and reigns, and Jesus still has His calling on the church. 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:14.610 It might look different in how you do it, but the calling still rests on you. 00:32:15.120 --> 00:32:20.000 And so, the question is, what is your limit to your walk with Jesus? 00:32:20.080 --> 00:32:24.090 What, if tempted with, might lead you to stop pursuing him? 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:31.420 Selfless worship happens when heart is thankful. 00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:35.020 And that's what we see here in the life of Mary. 00:32:35.300 --> 00:32:38.780 She finds this worship is healing, this worship is selfless. 00:32:38.780 --> 00:32:45.860 But the reason Mary was able to enter into this relationship with God despite all the adversity around her, despite the tension that builds up, she 00:32:45.860 --> 00:32:53.200 was able to just push all of that away and just focus on Jesus and honoring Jesus and sitting at the feet of Jesus is 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:54.480 because Mary's heart was thankful. 00:32:57.120 --> 00:33:00.680 She looked to her God and realized He alone was worthy. 00:33:01.280 --> 00:33:08.700 So what else, what better could she do with her life than to come before her king humbly and praising His 00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:09.400 name? 00:33:10.860 --> 00:33:18.480 Ephesians 1:3 says it like this for us, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:26.340 has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." What 00:33:26.340 --> 00:33:33.440 Paul's saying in the very beginning of Ephesians, he's saying, "Look, your heart has more than enough reason to just honor God and praise God and 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:40.700 sit at the feet of God and be selfless in your devotion to God and forsake all things in this world and to say, 'I am crucified with 00:33:40.700 --> 00:33:46.580 Christ,' because Jesus has blessed your life with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. 00:33:47.660 --> 00:33:48.900 That's an incredible gift. 00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:56.340 If you read Ephesians 1:3, if you go on from there, he starts to outline for us exactly what that means for you in your life, 00:33:56.500 --> 00:33:57.100 what is that like. 00:33:57.100 --> 00:33:59.440 If you say, "Okay, this morning things are hard. 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:03.120 What reason do I have to praise God because I'm feeling weak in my life? 00:34:03.600 --> 00:34:10.699 If this is what's healing to me, this worship, how does my soul find this attitude of thankfulness that will 00:34:10.699 --> 00:34:18.679 inspire me to lift up God's name and honor Him with all that I am, to forsake this world and glorify God?" Paul 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:26.060 says in Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm," and he goes on to describe 00:34:26.060 --> 00:34:26.540 it, right? 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:33.540 He says, "You've been predestined in Him, that you've been declared righteous in Him. 00:34:33.560 --> 00:34:35.659 You've been forgiven in Him. 00:34:35.739 --> 00:34:38.139 You've been adopted in Him. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:46.100 You've got this entire new identity because of Jesus, and you belong before this king because of 00:34:46.100 --> 00:34:53.580 what He's done for you." Our goal this morning, we 00:34:53.580 --> 00:35:01.060 can have a lot of subgoals in our gathering to worship, but our goal this morning is 00:35:01.080 --> 00:35:03.700 that our hearts would worship. 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:11.480 When we walk from this building, it would be to rest in the goodness of who God is because the outflow 00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:15.680 of worship is a life that is transformed in Christ. 00:35:16.500 --> 00:35:24.200 We're in this struggle in life, and we all have this war within us between being a Mary and being a Caiaphas. 00:35:24.260 --> 00:35:27.260 The temptation of our life is to walk in convenience. 00:35:27.640 --> 00:35:34.840 But the calling of Jesus is to walk in truthfulness, and truthfulness comes with selflessness and that reason for laying 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:39.720 down our life is because of the goodness of who God is. 00:35:39.740 --> 00:35:46.820 Look in verse seven, this one says, "Therefore Jesus said, 'Let Mary alone so that she 00:35:46.820 --> 00:35:54.150 may keep it for the day of my burial, for you always have the poor with you, 00:35:54.620 --> 00:36:03.540 but you do not always have me." What Jesus is saying here is, "Guys, don't 00:36:03.540 --> 00:36:10.600 underestimate how precious it is to spend time with Christ." The 00:36:10.680 --> 00:36:14.270 primary thing that God calls you to in this world is not to do. 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:20.360 The primary thing God calls you to in this world is to know Him. 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:23.060 The primary thing God calls you to in this world is relationship. 00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:29.100 You can do all day long and not have a relationship with God. 00:36:30.600 --> 00:36:36.290 But if you have a genuine relationship with God, then you follow after the things that He will call you to do in this world. 00:36:37.700 --> 00:36:39.230 But it's got to start with heart transformation. 00:36:40.900 --> 00:36:42.960 Mary knew this. 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:48.080 You see, even in the story, you know the difference between Martha and Mary, right? 00:36:48.080 --> 00:36:50.820 Martha is the one that's always the doer, right? 00:36:50.860 --> 00:36:58.260 Even in this moment, they're throwing a dinner party for Jesus for resurrecting Lazarus, and Martha is the one cooking the meal, 00:36:58.500 --> 00:36:59.420 taking care of that. 00:36:59.790 --> 00:37:03.220 Mary's the one at the feet of Jesus because she knows how precious this moment is. 00:37:03.520 --> 00:37:06.660 There's always going to be a time where she can get up and prepare a meal. 00:37:06.700 --> 00:37:09.160 There's always going to be a time to do some kind of job. 00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:16.880 But moments with Jesus, they're precious, they're special, they're life-transforming. 00:37:19.220 --> 00:37:26.960 How important it is above all other things that your heart would have a moment to worship because that's what transforms 00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:27.220 you? 00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:29.680 And the result, let's look at this, here's the result. 00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:35.360 The result is an aroma that blesses others. 00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:42.400 Verse nine, "The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He 00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:49.600 was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also 00:37:49.600 --> 00:37:52.350 see Lazarus whom He raised from the dead. 00:37:52.680 --> 00:37:59.960 But the chief priest planned to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away 00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:04.680 and were believing in Jesus." Just the irony of that moment. 00:38:04.700 --> 00:38:11.860 You're like, "Verse 10, they resurrect Lazarus from the grave, and they get so angry that also Lazarus has been resurrected from 00:38:11.860 --> 00:38:14.580 the dead." Their anger is not just Jesus now, it's like "And Lazarus. 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:15.770 What should we do with Lazarus? 00:38:16.160 --> 00:38:18.770 Let's kill him again." That's the conclusion. 00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:23.270 They have such disdain for pursuing Jesus because they don't want to give up their idols. 00:38:23.540 --> 00:38:27.140 "These are our idols, Jesus." It's easy to get what the Pharisees are. 00:38:27.140 --> 00:38:34.440 I mean, we can look at them and very angry, "How could you kill Jesus?" But you think of it from their position that they're considering all of the diplomacy 00:38:34.440 --> 00:38:38.720 they've done with Rome, that they've built this relationship to keep peace for their people. 00:38:38.720 --> 00:38:39.610 And they don't want to upset Rome. 00:38:39.860 --> 00:38:41.930 They've taken all of this time to develop this relationship. 00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:46.920 They're like, "If we give into Jesus, we could lose this position, this relationship with Rome. 00:38:46.920 --> 00:38:48.300 Rome could come back angry to us. 00:38:48.640 --> 00:38:50.140 This is way inconvenient. 00:38:50.140 --> 00:38:51.480 There's no way I want to do this. 00:38:51.780 --> 00:38:53.840 There's got to be a different way around this. 00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:58.140 And we're not pursuing Jesus for that reason." Well, we can justify that with Jesus, right? 00:38:58.140 --> 00:39:01.680 Like, "Jesus, you're asking me for this, to lay my life down this way, God. 00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:03.100 Is there any other way? 00:39:03.180 --> 00:39:05.160 I'll give you this Jesus, but not this. 00:39:05.620 --> 00:39:09.760 Let's create you to be the kind of God that I want not the God that you are." Right? 00:39:10.560 --> 00:39:13.930 Easy to get there, to the point that they're so frustrated. 00:39:14.140 --> 00:39:17.080 Now, they're like, "Lazarus was already dead. 00:39:17.180 --> 00:39:17.920 So what's it going to hurt? 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:25.140 We can just kill him again." But it says because of the life of Lazarus, 00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:28.490 others were coming to know Christ. 00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:33.520 This isn't an easy moment for Lazarus, is it? 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:34.880 This is not convenient. 00:39:37.140 --> 00:39:43.590 But Lazarus, his family, Mary, they're just honoring the goodness of who God is. 00:39:45.520 --> 00:39:51.460 And the aroma of their worship is a blessing to everyone else around them. 00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:56.500 It doesn't say everyone else necessarily has to recognize it or praise them for it. 00:39:56.500 --> 00:40:01.580 When you go and serve Jesus in this world, it's not because you get the accolades. 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:07.520 I always say for us this morning, my goal is not for you to think much of me. 00:40:07.520 --> 00:40:09.080 I could care less what you think of me. 00:40:10.640 --> 00:40:12.360 But if you could just think much of Jesus. 00:40:14.440 --> 00:40:20.250 If I die and no one remembers my name, I don't care. 00:40:22.020 --> 00:40:25.240 But if you know Jesus, that changes everything. 00:40:26.500 --> 00:40:30.200 We could spend the rest of eternity, and you can learn my name there, right? 00:40:30.220 --> 00:40:32.240 But just to know Jesus, and that's what Lazarus does. 00:40:33.020 --> 00:40:33.300 Why? 00:40:33.340 --> 00:40:37.530 Because he is worthy and his heart is filled with thankfulness. 00:40:39.300 --> 00:40:47.960 Because when I think about our culture today, the wisest thing that we can do is 00:40:47.960 --> 00:40:49.880 submit our lives to Jesus. 00:40:52.080 --> 00:40:58.540 The bravest thing I think you can do is submit your life to Jesus. 00:41:00.260 --> 00:41:04.900 Following after Jesus in our culture today, it's going to cost you. 00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:09.390 But he's worthy. 00:41:11.860 --> 00:41:19.640 The question of reflection for our own soul is just to ask the question, "When it comes to this moments of things that are adverse, do 00:41:19.640 --> 00:41:27.860 I choose convenience or do I choose Jesus?" The 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:34.780 best thing I can do for my family is submit to Jesus, to be selfless. 00:41:36.800 --> 00:41:39.200 People of convenience will hurt others. 00:41:39.700 --> 00:41:40.780 I see what you see in the story. 00:41:41.240 --> 00:41:46.380 But people of worship will bless others. 00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:52.780 There is a Caiaphas and the Mary battle within all of us. 00:41:54.040 --> 00:41:57.620 One kills Jesus for convenience, the other falls and worships Him. 00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:02.360 And the result is an aroma that blesses the life of others. 00:42:03.080 --> 00:42:10.280 Mary, for us, is an extraordinary display of where we should find ourselves at the feet of Jesus 00:42:10.280 --> 00:42:13.150 because worship is healing. 00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:17.380 This message has been brought to you by Alpine Bible Church in Lehi, Utah. 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:21.790 If you'd like more information, please visit us online at alpinebible.com.