MIDWEEK
LENT 2
February
25, 2015
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Mark 14:1-9
“FRUITS OF FAITH WILL BE REMEMBERED!”
Mark 9:1-9 (NIV
1984) “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.
2 "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people
may riot." 3 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. 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to
one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold
for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they
rebuked her harshly. 6 "Leave her alone," said Jesus.
"Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you
want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She
poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
9 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."
It seems a little strange to be
talking about harvesting fruit this time of year. If you go outside to the
apple trees on the parsonage lawn you will not find any apples. It’s too cold. It’s
the wrong season for fruit, at least that kind of fruit. But it’s not the wrong
season for what we call fruits of faith. Fruits of faith is the term used for
the things that believers do out of love and thanks to God, things that are
pleasing to Him. And this time of year, Lent, when we pause to remember Jesus’
suffering, is not a bad time to look for fruit at all. And as we continue our
look at the “I tell you the truth,” statements of Jesus we find that the truth
is fruits of faith will be remembered.
Our text takes place during Holy Week.
Let’s find out what the unbelievers were up to. “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. 2 "But not during the
Feast," they said, "or the people may riot." Nothing new
here. The enemies of God always think they are smarter than God trying to
figure out the best way to carry out plots, completely unaware that their plot
was part of God’s plan.
What are some believers up to? “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.” Believers were busy showing love to
Jesus, producing fruits of faith. Simon the Leper invited Jesus to his home.
And a woman anointed Jesus with nard. We know from the other Gospels that this
woman was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We know from historians that
nard was a very expensive perfume and that a jar such as the one Mary used cost
somewhere in the $30,000 to $40,000 range. That’s a lot of money.
Not everyone agreed with how that
money was spent. “Some of those present
were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5
It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the
poor." And they rebuked her harshly.” What do you think? The practical side of us I
think would agree with the objectors. Do you spend $30,000 to $40,000 on some
perfume that is used once, smells good, and then gone? Wouldn’t it be better to
put that money towards helping people’s needs? Two things. First we know from the other Gospel accounts
of this event that the objector was Judas. He actually didn’t care about the
poor but used that objection as a front. Judas was the disciples’ treasurer and
he used to help himself to money that was supposed to be used for the poor and
wanted access to more. Secondly those who objected were only looking at the
what and not the why and with the Lord the why is very important.
"Leave
her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a
beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you
can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She
did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my
burial.” Jesus called what Mary did a beautiful thing. It was a fruit of
faith, a pre death preparation for Jesus
even though she probably did not realize it. What she had done was done for
Jesus. She wanted to show love and thankfulness to the Savior who had defended
her love for the Word when Martha was upset with her, who had raised her
brother Lazarus from the dead, and who would lay down His life for her sins.
And that leads to our truth statement. “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." Jesus always tells the truth and we are evidence of it. The
fact that we are reading this Gospel lesson and talking about is one more proof
that what Jesus said is true, fruits of faith will be remembered.
Mary’s were and ours will too.
Remember fruits of faith are those things believers do out of love for God and that
are pleasing to Him. They come in all shapes and sizes. They might look very
ordinary and be things you don’t even really think too much about like showing
kindness to our classmates, obeying our teachers, keeping our rooms clean at
home, doing your homework to the best of your ability, coming to worship,
reading your Bible at home. They might look extraordinary like Mary’s was,
something big and planned like a special money offering of thanks to God or a
deliberate planned and ongoing witnessing of your faith to a neighbor or co
worker, or committing yourself to a volunteer project for Jesus’ work that is
going to mean a lot of your time. All of these and so many more.
But now let’s talk about what holds us
back from doing fruits of faith. Well we all know that the cold holds back
fruit on fruit trees. It’s also the cold that holds back Christian’s fruits of
faith. The cold of fear for instance. You younger Christians know how that
goes. Someone decides for you that you can’t play with that girl and still be
friends with me but Jesus wants you to play with everyone. But if I do that
this girl I want to be friends with won’t be friends with me. Fear holds you
back. If I put my church in my will my family will be mad at me. If I speak up
about Jesus they might think I’m weird. Cold hard fear holds back fruits of
faith. Sometimes fruits of faith are left undone because love has grown cold
and been replaced with selfishness. Jesus did tell us that as it grows closer
to the end of the world the love of many believers would grow cold. I don’t
want to clean my room and where is love for parents? I want to sleep in or play
a game instead of worship and where is love for God first?
The answer to both the coldness of
fear and selfishness is the warmth that the Son provides. Jesus tells us the
truth, fruits of faith will be remembered. He will remember them. The Father
will remember them. They will be pointed to like Mary’s gift as thing pleasing
to God, fragrant offerings to Him, evidences of our faith on the last day.
Jesus is the truth to fight selfishness. We too, like Mary, have all kinds of
reasons to want to thank Jesus. He defends us when the Devil attacks and
accuses and points to all the reasons God shouldn’t love us. He’s raised us
from the death of unbelief so we get to live our lives as believers. He’s given
eternal life to our parents and grandparents, spouses and children who have
died in the Lord before us. He took our place in Hell.
And so we want to thank Him. That’s
why you are here right now spending time worshipping Jesus. That’s a fruit of
faith and it as well as all the other you get to do will be remembered. Jesus
tells the truth. Amen.
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