Do Good Works And Your Best For God

DO YOUR BEST FOR JESUS IN THE YEAR 2025

Mark 14:3-9; (NK JV) “3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Illustration: David Livingstone was a pioneer missionary to Africa, He prayed, “Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties apart the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.” David Livingstone walked over 29,000 miles. His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethren.

Illustration: One man in a church said to his friend, “I could give $1,000.00 towards the building and not even feel it.”

His friend replied, “Then give two or three thousand and feel it!”

Illustration: "A Christian businessman was traveling in Korea. In a field by the side of the road was a young man pulling a rude plow while an old man held the handles. The businessman was amused and took a snapshot of the scene.

"'I suppose these people are very poor,' he said to the missionary who was interpreter and guide to the party.

"'Yes,' was the quiet reply, 'those two men happen to be Christians. When their church was being built, they were eager to give something toward it, but they had no money. So they decided to sell their one and only ox and give the proceeds to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves.'

"The businessman was silent for some moments. Then he said, 'That must have been a real sacrifice.'

"'They did not call it that,' said the missionary. 'They thought themselves fortunate that they had an ox to sell!'

"When that businessman reached home, he took the picture to his pastor and told him all about it. Then he added, 'I want to double my giving to the church and do some plow work. Up until now I have never given God anything that involved real sacrifice.'"

The question today is "Have you ever given God something that you yourself will call a real sacrifice?" Something that you will feel. Have you ever had an encounter with God or with someone and you will say; “this is done for God” or “I could only do this because of God”. It may not necessarily be money, what of time? What of helping someone? Something that will cost you a lot. David said in 2 Samuel 24:24 (NKJV) “24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Our text is about that kind of sacrifice. It's about the kind of sacrifice that is supposed to mark the life of every single believer. It is the kind of sacrifice talked about by Paul in Romans 12:1(NKJV) “12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

We are to bring ourselves to God wholly, completely as the former sacrifices were brought to the altar in the Old Testament. God needs our reasonable service; rational worship, expected to be performed with our heart, mind, body and soul.

The Bible says in John 4:24 (NKJV) “24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

In the text that we have read, our Lord Jesus Christ was on His way to Calvary; a place where He would be killed. On His way, a woman believed to be Mary (John 12:3) expressed the depths of her love and devotion to Him by a costly sacrifice. She broke a box of ointment and poured it on the head of Jesus. This ointment was valued at 300 pence. At that time, a pence was the daily wage of the average worker. That was a wage a worker will earn in a year! Therefore, in modern terms, it was worth about $15,000.00. That must be a life-time savings for Mary! This spikenard was produced from a rare plant that grew in India. It was very expensive, and many people saved for years to be able to provide this for their own funeral preparations. However, this woman, whom we believe to be Mary, John 12, poured everything out on the head of the Lord Jesus.