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FBC Travelers Rest sermon from February 12, 2023 by Pastor Rhett Burns.
If you have your Bible, you can turn with me to Mark chapter 14. And as you're turning there, let me just say thank you to Ms. Sandra for coming and playing on short notice for us. Beautiful as always.
Thank you so much. Verses 1 through 25 of Mark 14. If you're new with us, we're just going through the book of Mark one section at a time. And this is where we pick up in Mark's Gospel, Mark 14, 1 through 25.
Before we read here a few verses at a time, I want to give you the big idea up front. And that is, Jesus is worth all, for he is all, and he gave all. Jesus is worth all, for he is all, and he gave all.
That's the big idea for today. If you take nothing else, take that home with you. Let's begin with reading the first two verses to set the stage of where we are. And God's Word says this in Mark 14, verse 1.
It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.
So this is where we are. It's two days before Passover and they're wanting to kill Jesus. We come to a bit of a transition point in the narrative here. And the story turns towards Jesus' death. The chief priests and scribes are actively looking for a way to kill him.
They want to do it quietly, though, because they don't want an uproar. But it's Passover week. And you have Jews from all around who have poured into the city. There's hundreds of thousands of people in the city.
And it could get out of hand very quickly. Remember, tensions are already high during this week, as we've seen over the last few chapters. And so they didn't want to do it during the feast. But here's the thing.
The death of Jesus for the sins of the world was ultimately God's plan, not man's plan. The death of Jesus for the sins of the world was God's plan. It was not ultimately man's plan. And so, yes, the chief priests and the scribes, Judas, and the Roman authorities, they all acted with genuine human agency.
Thus, they are responsible for their grievous sin in putting Jesus to death. And at the same time, it was the plan of God for them to do so. God is sovereign over all events. His providential hand governs everything.
And so even though they didn't want to kill Jesus during the Passover, God decreed that they would. For it was fitting that the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world would be slain during the week of Passover.
It was fitting that the blood that covers our sin and saves us from eternal death would be shed at Passover. The commemoration of when the angel of death passed over the houses that were marked by the blood before the exodus from Egypt.
You see, this was the plan before the foundation of the world. Let's continue in verses 3 through 9. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment, a pure nard, very costly.
And she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.
And they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you. And whenever you want, you can do good for them.
But you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly I say to you, whenever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.
Let's pause for just a moment and think about what this woman did. She took an alabaster flask of ointment made from nard, which is a very expensive East Indian spice. This was possibly a family heirloom.
It was worth 300 denarii, which translates into about $40 ,000 today. And so it wasn't just expensive, it was really expensive. The flask was sealed, where she had to break it to open it. It was sealed to keep the scent in.
And she took it, and she broke the neck of it, and she poured the oil perfume over Jesus' head. A year's worth of wages dripping off of Jesus' beard. Now some of the disciples were astonished. But not in a good way.
They scolded her for the waste of it. You could have sold it. You could have taken that money and given it to the poor. But you just wasted it. Jesus quickly came to her defense. Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me. You'll always have the poor with you, and you can do good to them whenever you want. But you will not always have me. You see, these scolding disciples, they were good at math.
They knew money, they knew the ointment's value, and they ran the calculations, and they saw this woman's just extravagance. But they left one variable out of their calculation. You see, they knew the value of the nard, but they did not consider, they failed to consider the value of Jesus.
They knew the value of the ointment, they failed to consider the value of Jesus on whose head she poured it. The woman, on the other hand, she was not focused on the denarii figure of the nard, but on the infinite, infinite value of Jesus.
In comparison to Jesus, that very expensive ointment, when the price was very small. You see, we can often be utilitarian. We can be hyper-practical. We think life and decision making can be mapped out on a spreadsheet.
But life is more personal than that. Life is more human than that. And so sometimes we buy the expensive gift. Sometimes we splurge on the fancy dinner. Sometimes we take the kids to the ice cream shop even though we could buy a half a gallon of ice cream for the same price as one waffle cone at the ice cream shop, but we do it anyway, right?
Why? Because we love the people we're buying for. We love the people we're enjoying that with. And it's a gift. It's generosity. It's tangible, edible, smellable, visible, tasteable love. We do that for people.
How much more so for the Son of God? How much more so for our Maker? Is He not worth all because He is all? This woman felt so. She knew who Jesus was and she acted accordingly. It reminds me of the widow in chapter 12 of Mark's Gospel.
Remember she tossed in her last two coins into the coffer and gave all that she had. This woman, well she had more than two coins. She had $40 ,000 ointment. But she poured it out as an offering to Jesus.
And Jesus said she's done all she could. And she too gave all. She knew that when you give up everything for Jesus you don't lose anything because you get Jesus who is everything. When you give up anything for Jesus or when you give up everything for Jesus you don't lose anything because you get Jesus who is everything.
Now, I don't believe that this passage is teaching us that you need to go and sell everything that you have and give it away. That you need to take avowal of poverty. That's not what this is teaching.
But we need to remember what the Bible says and we ought to count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3 .8. And we ought to remember that the ransom of a man is his wealth but a poor man hears no threat.
Proverbs 13 .8. We ought to remember that we can't serve both God and money. Matthew 6 .24. It means that the only strings attached to our hearts and our affections and our will is loyalty to and love for Jesus.
That is, we are totally devoted to Jesus. How many times have we seen that over the last few weeks in Mark? Be totally devoted to Jesus because He's all. He is worth all because He is all. And He gave all.
There's another thing that's significant here about this woman's action and that is that she anointed Jesus for burial. That's what he says there in verse 8. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
So this time this is the days before embalming and so putting spices or oil on a dead body was a burial rite. And she anointed Him for burial which again signals that Jesus is moving towards death and He knows what is coming.
He knows that He's being anointed for burial. He knows what is coming. And He deliberately moves forward because He is on a mission from God to save the world at the cost of His life. He gave all. Let's continue reading verses 10 and 11.
And then Judas Iscariot who was one of the twelve went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. And when they heard it they were glad and promised to give Him money and he sought an opportunity to betray Him.
So the chief priests, they want to kill Jesus, right? But Jerusalem is packed full of people they don't want an uproar. In order to get Him they're going to have to find Him. What are they going to do?
How are they going to do that? The answer is Judas. Judas, one of Jesus' twelve closest associates came to the chief priests and he made an offer to them that he would arrange Jesus' arrest, he would betray Jesus and he would do it for money.
I want you to notice the contrast between Judas and the woman. Notice the contrast between the two. She gives up something of great expense. She gives up money for Jesus. Judas gives up Jesus for money.
It's a big difference. The woman served Jesus, Judas served himself. The woman anointed Jesus for burial, Judas as it was sealed his own death. Verse 21. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.
I have a question for you. Are you using what you have for Jesus or are you trying to use Jesus for what you might have? That is, is Jesus a means to an end or is He the end Himself? I want you to know that the beauty of the gospel is that we get God.
That's what we get in the gospel. We get God. First and foremost. It's not that we get God who is the means to all these other things that we really want and so we use Him to get to that other stuff which is our actual goal.
No. We get God. He's the prize. He's the end. He's the goal. God is the gospel. I read a book one time called God is the gospel and it framed a question like this that was helpful. It said if after death you could go to a place where all your family is and all your friends are and all your favorite foods are and all your favorite places whether that's the mountains or the beach or the lake or wherever if you could go to that place but God's not there would you still want to go?
Thankfully we don't have to make that choice. God is incredibly kind to us. He has set things up in such a way that we get God and then He throws in all these other things because He's that good and kind to us.
But the question is still illustrative and a great diagnostic question for your heart. With whom do your deepest loves and loyalties lie? Jesus is worth all because He is all and He gave all. Verses 12 -21 God's word says and on the first day of unleavened bread when they sacrificed the Passover lamb His disciples said to Him where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?
And He sent two of His disciples and said to them go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him and wherever he enters say to the master of the house the teacher says where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples and he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready there prepare for us.
And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as He had told them and they prepared the Passover and when it was evening He came with the twelve and as they were reclining at table and eating Jesus said truly I say to you one of you will betray me and they began to be sorrowful and to say to Him one after another is it I?
And He said to them it is one of the twelve who is dipping bread into the dish with me for the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed it would have been better for that man if he had not been born.
I want to see a few things in this section. First Jesus is in full control of the situation earlier He controlled the discussion about the woman in the ointment when the disciples started scolding her He stepped in and He controlled that discussion.
Here He gives instructions for the Passover feast. He's the host it's His meal. He's delegating tasks. He's making the arrangements. He says where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples this is Jesus' meal.
He's in control of the situation. He eats with the betrayer. He knows what is going on. He knows what is going to happen and yet He still presses forward. He is in control. He is deliberately moving forward.
Second thing I want you to see is the similarities between making arrangements for the Passover and when Jesus made arrangements to ride the donkey into the city just a few days before when He entered Jerusalem Mark 11.
We see that Jesus sent two disciples to fetch the donkey and strangers oblige them when they tell them that the teacher has need of it. And soon after Jesus cursed the fig tree condemned the temple and stopped the sacrificial system for a time by driving out the merchants, right?
And He hinted at a new temple and a new cornerstone of that new temple. What would it be that would replace the temple? I think Mark has given us an answer here at least the start of an answer here in Mark 14 because again Jesus sends out two disciples this time to prepare a room and again they come in contact with strangers who oblige when they hear the words from the teacher and then Jesus enacts a meal with them with sacrificial language.
He's instituting a new right for the new community that will replace the temple system. It is the church that replaces the temple and so what we have here is the institution of the Lord's Supper that is getting ready to follow in verses 22 through 27.
Let's read and as they were eating He took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them and said take this is my body and He took a cup and when He had given thanks He gave it to them and they all drank of it and He said to them this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.
Truly I say to you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of heaven. It's God's word to us. The Passover meal was loaded with symbolism and Jesus adds still more to it.
Let's think about the bread and the wine for just a minute. This isn't the first time that bread and wine have appeared together in the scriptures. James Jordan notes that man's first food according to Genesis 129 was grain and fruit.
The raw materials for bread and wine. Then in Genesis 14 when Abraham is there with Melchizedek Melchizedek offered him bread and wine and then later in Genesis Joseph is in prison and who is he in prison with?
The chief baker. Bread and the chief cup bearer to the king of Egypt. Wine and he ascends past them both. Bread and wine are together on the table of show bread and then here again instituting the Lord's supper Jesus puts bread and wine together.
The bread He says is His body. Now Jesus is speaking figuratively but He's also speaking truly. So figuratively the bread doesn't change properties and become the physical body of Jesus like the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
In a real sense the bread is the body of Jesus that we partake of by faith. So what is the meaning of the bread? Kent Hughes answers this well. He says. In a word the bread referred to the life of Christ.
In the incarnation of Bethlehem which literally means city of bread Christ the bread of life took on a human body. He demonstrated His divine life to all the world by living a sinless life in that body.
He bore our sins on the cross while in that human body. He triumphed from the grave by bringing that body back to life and He now lives in that glorified body at the right hand of the Father where He prays for us.
Bread is life and like the bread in verse 22 Jesus was broken for us. The wine is the blood of the covenant Jesus says. The red color reminds and points to the blood of Christ. The potency points to the wrath and judgment of God that Jesus took upon Himself on the cross.
Jesus says the blood of the covenant is poured out for many. This refers to Isaiah 53 verse 12 where it's prophesied that Jesus will pour out His soul unto death and it is poured out for many. Every tribe, every tongue every people, every nation.
The life of Jesus, the blood of Jesus poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I would also point out that these symbols that Jesus chose for the supper are appropriate because of the very nature of the things that they are and in that very nature they point to the gospel.
So take bread for instance. Grain must be crushed into flour before you can get bread and what's mixed with water and salt and yeast is put into a fiery oven where it rises and out comes glorified ready to eat bread crushing, suffering, trial, death and resurrection.
All right there in a slice of bread points to it. Take the wine. The grapes must be crushed. The flesh of the grape ripped from the skin and seed. Then it goes into a tomb like vat where it sits for some time before it is resurrected and glorified as wine.
Life, death, resurrection glory. Is this not the gospel story? It's appropriate that Jesus chose these two elements for us to partake of in the supper. But what are we doing? When we partake of the Lord's supper like we did last week.
What are we doing? Well the first thing is we are expressing with action by doing something. We are expressing our union with Christ. By the act of eating and drinking we are taking into our bodies the body and blood of Jesus thus demonstrating our oneness with Him.
We share in the life of Christ. Second thing we are doing, we are expressing with action our fellowship with one another, our communion with one another. The Lord's supper is a fellowship meal for those who have a share in Christ and His Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 10 the Apostle Paul says. Because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. We eat of the same bread and we are united to the same Lord and we have the same spirit.
We are one people and we belong to one another. It's what membership refers to. We are members of one another, we belong to one another. Because we belong to Christ. Our unity is expressed tangibly in the Lord's supper.
Third thing is we are strengthened by the Lord's supper. The Lord's supper is not just something we do, it is something that God does. And I would even argue that it is primarily something that God does first and foremost.
The Lord's supper is one of the primary means that God uses to strengthen His people. So theologians would call this a means of grace. What they mean there is that this is one of the means. One of the things that God uses in order to strengthen His people.
Means of grace, this isn't saving grace, I don't mean that at all. I mean strengthening grace. How He strengthens our souls and our spirits. When we might walk with Him. Taking of the Lord's supper doesn't save us but it does strengthen us who are saved and partake of it in a worthy manner.
That is one of the ways that God provides spiritual nourishment for us is by giving it to us when we come together to express our unity with Christ and our unity with one another. When we come together for the Lord's supper.
Examining ourselves, repenting of any known sin. Calling to mind the gospel of salvation in Christ and enacting that through a meal. Now this isn't the only way that God strengthens us but it is one of the primary ways that God strengthens us and it is given to us, it is one that is given to us directly by Jesus.
Could it be that one of the reasons the church in our nation has been so weak against the rising tide of secularism has been that we have neglected the frequent and proper partaking of the Lord's supper and therefore we have forsaken the strength from God that He would have given us in it.
We need to consider that. Fourth thing, in the supper with eyes of faith. We're looking in several different directions. We are looking up in the supper. Up to God. When we come together for the Lord's supper it is His table and we call to mind the glory and the grace of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We look back to the cross and remember the mighty acts of God in salvation. None greater than the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. We look within ourselves, examining ourselves. For any unconfessed, unrepented of sin.
Trusting Jesus for the forgiveness of that sin. Confessing it to God, knowing that if we confess our sins to God He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We look within and examine ourselves. We look around in fellowship as we mentioned. These are our people with whom we share Christ. And then lastly, we look forward in anticipation. Because this meal is a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
When all the redeemed of all places, of all times will dine with Jesus in heaven. But I would say the most important look that happens at the Lord's supper is not our look around or our look up or our look back or our look within or our look forward.
It is God's look on us. The most important look in the Lord's supper is the look of God. Because when we take the Lord's supper, God looks down on us and He was reminded of His covenant with us. Mark Horne points this out in his commentary.
He points out that when God hung His bow in the clouds after the great flood He told Noah that when the bow is seen in the clouds I will remember my covenant that is between me and you. The sign of the rainbow was for God to look on and be reminded of His covenant.
Exodus 12, when the blood was put on the doors at Passover. It says, when I see the blood I will pass over you. When He sees the sign, He will pass over. In the sacrifices of the temple, they sacrifice bulls and goats.
But here's the thing, the book of Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats can't atone for the sins of humanity. Right? What was going on then? Why did they do it? Because when God saw the blood, He remembered His covenant promises to His people and He would withhold His judgment from them and give them forgiveness.
Of course, not all those sacrifices had blood. Leviticus 2 tells us of a grain offering where they would mix fine flour with oil and they would bake it and then they would bring it to the altar and they would break it.
Blood and bread and priesthood. Sound familiar? It's Lord's Supper. And when God looks down and when He sees when He sees it He remembers His covenant promises to His people. So of all the looks that are looked during the Lord's Supper that is the most important one.
The look of God. The meaning of the Lord's Supper is the death of Jesus. His body broken His blood shed. It was the death that He was born for. It was planned before the foundations of the world. It's why He turned His face towards Jerusalem and He got on that donkey and entered into the city.
It's why He went to Jerusalem. It's why the woman broke that alabaster flask of expensive nard ointment and anointed His head for burial. Because Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for many. The one who is all in all, the scriptures tell us God Himself, He gave all Body and blood.
And He is worth all. Our total devotion. Let's pray Our Father in heaven, I thank you for the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. And this morning we especially remember the death of Jesus.
His blood shed for us. We thank you for that. Because without it, we're without hope. Because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. And we can't atone for our own sin. Father, if there is anyone here this morning that has not repented of their sin and trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus for salvation.
Lord, I pray that they would do it right now. That today, right now, would be the day of salvation. And I pray that our church will every day live in light of this glorious truth. That we will devote ourselves to Christ Who is worth all.
Because He is all. And He gave all. It's in His name we pray, Amen.
