Give Him Your Best And He Will Do The Rest!

Give Him your Best, ant HE will do the Rest!

1/7/10

Mark 14:3-9 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. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 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."

As a child and a parent, I can remember hearing and as a parent later repeating the phrase, “Do the best you can!” Isn't that a good goal for everyone. On your job, “Do the best you can!” I think every employer would be please to have a workforce like that.

In sports, “Do the best you can!”. West Virginia native Randy Moss recently was let go from his former team, the Vikings, for and I am quoting, “The talent is still there, but the effort and dedication were suspect.”

What a goal for Christians. We are not perfect even after receiving Christ, but we should all strive to be the best that we can be. It is not just the Army who wants you to “Be all that you can be”, that is the desire of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So let us look at our text and see what happens when we, “Give Him our best and HE will do the rest!”

First let us look at...

The PEOPLE

First of all let us look at person whose house Jesus went to, Simon the leper. Now who would go to a lepers house on purpose? No one. Once you were labeled a leper then you became a cast out. You could not be around others, unless they were other lepers. A social outcast you could say. But with Jesus there is no such thing as a social outcast. Simon the leper had to have been healed at some point in Jesus' ministry. In Mark 1 we read about Jesus healing a leper, this may have been Simon. But in any case, no matter how much of an outcast you may feel like, Jesus will be there for you too.

Something else about Simon the leper; what do we know about him other than at one time he was a leper. This event is also recorded in the other gospels. And from that find out other things about Simon.

We all know who was the earthly father of Jesus, but who was the father of Judas? Look in John 12:4-5 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, (Whose son?) who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"

Talk about the bad apple in the basket. Judas Iscariot, Simon's son.

Then we have the two woman, Mary and Martha. Sisters who we read a lot about in the life of Jesus. Both of them loved the Lord, but one of them seemed to have a better perspective about who and what Jesus was and is.

When you read about Mary, she always seems to be at the feet of Jesus worshiping Him. In John Chapter 11 we read about Jesus rising their brother, Lazarus, from the dead. Liston to the responses of these two sisters.

First we have Martha...John 11:19-27 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."