TITLE: “Poured Out”
#2 in the SERIES: “Empty”
MAIN TEXT: Mark 14:22-26
Good Morning! Today, we are going to continue following the life of Jesus in His last few days before the Crucifixion, from the Gospel of Mark… In doing so, I want to give you another PICTURE of what EMPTY looks like in a person’s life. To see another facet in the “gemstone” of EMPTY if you will.
Now, remember my goal with this series… It is similar to what John the Baptist made as his own personal goal. John 3:30 recalls it, “He must become greater; I must become less.” I want to propose to each of you that this needs to be a goal for each of us as well! Because it’s all about being EMPTY, so you can be filled with the fullness of Christ! The only problem is that WE have to choose to EMPTY ourselves, of self, so that we can make room for Christ to fill us back up. And I want you to know that Christ is EAGER to fill us up with Himself if we would only make ourselves available to Him!
That AVAILABILITY is what I want to deal with today
as we consider how Christ made Himself AVAILABLE to us.
In fact, Jesus POURED HIMSELF OUT for you and me!
TITLE: “POURED OUT”
Our goal: To Fill Us With His Fullness!
Mark 14:22-26, While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is POURED OUT for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” After singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.
PRAYER:
INTRODUCTION:
Now, if I were to ask you this morning if you believe God has the power to do great things, I believe all of you would raise your hands in agreement! Then, if I were to tell you that I believe God wants to do something special in your life; most, if not all of you, would still agree with me. But in order for God to do something great in our lives, we have to be AVAILABLE to Him every day! Amen?!
Now…that is a rather obvious statement to make. Yet, it is probably one of the most neglected thoughts in our life. I say that because we DO expect God to do things. Actually, we want God to do things – even great things! BUT! We have to admit that we are, many times, too busy or pre-occupied to give Him the opportunity to do something through our lives. So, our AVAILABILITY is not always there…
ILLUSTRATION:
Maybe this story will help you understand it a little better. The Fable of the Chicken and the Pig goes something like is… The Chicken and the Pig are walking down the road one day. The Chicken says, “Hey Pig, I was thinking we should open a restaurant!” The Pig replies, “Hmm, maybe… What would we call it?” The Chicken responds: “How about ‘ham-n-eggs’?” The Pig thinks for a moment and says, “No thanks. You might be involved, but I would have to be totally committed!”
That is the struggle for a lot of us. We don’t mind being INVOLVED, but COMMITMENT is another story. So we aren’t always as AVAILABLE as we should be to God!
But let me ask you these questions today about your AVAILABILITY to God. Are you more like the Chicken or the Pig??? Will you be around some of the time? Or are you fully committed to this thing? The Bible tells us in Mark 8:34, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” I think it comes down to how AVAILABLE we have made ourselves to the Lord. It’s about how much of US we have POURED OUT for Him!
Our Scripture text today, brings this element of AVAILABILITY to light for us to consider… Mark 14:12-26 is the story of The Last Supper. In it, Jesus is instituting the ordinance of Holy Communion. And He is actually revealing to the Disciples what His sacrifice entails.
Now, it’s Thursday, the day before Jesus would go to the Cross on what we know as Good Friday. So, we know that this would be a night, and then day, of intense suffering coming up very quickly for Jesus. But, before Jesus would begin this final piece of His earthly life, He wants to share in some final moments of fellowship with His twelve Disciples. Before all the final events of Jesus’ life ensues, He wants to POUR INTO THEM!
Which leads me to my first thought, which is…
POINT ONE: THE EVENT!
→Preparing for Passover.
While Jesus wants to celebrate Passover one last time with the disciples. He wants to POUR Himself into them before things start happening. But, there is an issue! Jesus has no place for them to meet. Or does He?
We pick up this turn of events a few verses previous my main text. Mark 14:12-16, On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to 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 will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.” The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
Now, this set of directions from Jesus is interesting, to say the least. Jesus says there will be this GUY carrying water and they were supposed to follow him to this particular house. (Which seems a little sketchy.) At first glance, this could be confusing to the Disciples because normally, no guys carry water because was normally a woman’s job! Usually, only women or older girls would carry water to and from the town well. But this would make identifying him all the more easy, I would assume!
Then, sure enough, they find a guy carrying water and so they do what Jesus said to do – they follow him back home! Then, they approach the owner of the house and ask him to use a room there for the night to celebrate the Passover. Now, it is speculated that this is the home of John Mark’s parents. But, no matter who owns this home and made it AVAILABLE to them - this is remarkable to see happen! They just say yes to letting people walk in and use their place for this special EVENT!
With that in mind, I have to ask myself, and you as well, are we that ready to surrender our cherished possessions for God’s use? Have we made our lives – and everything about them – that AVAILABLE for God to use? Are we willing to POUR ourselves out the Lord in that fashion, to be totally AVAILABLE? If not, then we need to get there!
Understand that this is not like some marriage agreement that a husband and wife makes… “What’s yours is mine and what is mine is mine.” No, God sees it completely different! Watch!
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” You see, we are just STEWARDS of everything that we have and are! Stewards only manage what is owned by someone else. And that “someone else” is GOD! He owns the things we claim as our own. Meaning our homes, furnishings, cars, bank accounts, boats, snowmobiles, every possession, etc., etc… That includes even US!!! And only when we truly grasp that truth, it makes it all the more easy to be AVAILABLE to Him! To POUR ourselves out to Him, in submission to His will for us! Just like the owner of this home did for Jesus and His disciples…
To take it a step further, understand that you are God’s possession! There is this saying that says, “He died for me, so I’ll live for Him!” And the Bible says it like this in I Corinthians 6:20, “For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” Church, I encourage you to make yourself, and your stuff, AVAILABLE to the Lord! After all, it’s all His and YOU are His! But it means an EMPTYING of yourself out to our Lord!
Earlier, I mentioned to you about God doing something special in your life… But the key to that is being AVAILABLE to Him.
ILLUSTRATION:
Rick Warren said this about being available, “If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you're available.”
Are you AVAILABLE, Church? Won’t you make yourself AVAILABLE to the Lord?
So, now that the disciples have made their way into this EVENT with Jesus. Jesus begins to talk with them about something that is very serious. Then, there becomes this sort of an internal…
POINT TWO: THE EXAM!
→Preparing their Hearts.
Now, if the EVENT was about our AVAILABILITY.
Then, the EXAM is about our AUTHENTICITY!
As Jesus continues to POUR OUT His heart here and He reveals a future event to the disciples. The big reveal is that someone is going to BETRAY Him. Listen in at Mark 14:17-21, “When it was evening He came with the twelve. 18 As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me - one who is eating with Me.’ They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, ‘Surely not I?’ And He said to them, ‘It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl. For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.’”
It’s interesting that Jesus shares this news at such an intimate time of reflection and faith. Their Passover Meal, what we now celebrate as Communion!
With the news that someone will BETRAY Jesus, the DISCIPLES begin to question their own heart’s AUTHENTICITY. Asking themselves, and even Jesus, “Is it me?! Am I the one who is going to betray you Jesus?!” Funny, because it was only a few days earlier (five chapters previous) when the disciples were arguing with each other over who was the greatest disciple in Jesus’ group in Mark 9:34. But Jesus wasn’t with them on the road. And when Jesus is not in our midst, we get caught up with things like our position, our importance and our greatness.
Now, at this moment, Jesus is right there in front of them. They are IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS, and their attitudes are radically changed! No longer are they asking, “Who is the greatest?” Instead, they are wondering, “Am I the one who will betray Jesus?”
The difference? HUMILITY! True humility is always the result of true intimacy with Jesus Christ! What I mean by that is the more intimate you are with Christ, the more humble you will become! You will suddenly become very aware of your weaknesses and His graciousness!
Think of Isaiah… When he saw the Lord high and lifted up in the Temple, with the angels crying out, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” in Isaiah 6. Isaiah responded immediately with, “Woe to me!” When in the previous five chapters, he was crying out to the nations “Woe to you!” The subject of his message changed dramatically! The reason? Because Isaiah was IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD!
Church, we need more “IN THE PRESENCE” moments! Moments when we are humbled in the AWESOME PRESENCE OF THE LORD! No longer wondering if we are great, and how great we are. But reminded of how small we are, and how awesome, great, and powerful Jesus is!!!
If we are those who are quick to always say, “Woe to you!” Either publically, or secretly, we probably haven’t seen the Lord HIGH AND LIFTED UP! Because when you do, you will see that you need to see Him like never before! We need these moments in HIS PRESENCE to change us and transform our hearts! TO REMOVE THE MASKS THAT WE WEAR that cover up the real us inside.
ILLUSTRATION: (Put on a mask)
We all wear masks, at different times and for different reasons. We usually wear masks to cover the “real us” up from other people so they don’t see who we really are. Sometimes, we think we can even trick God with our masks, but we can’t.
When we get INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD, we realize that these masks are useless. They are the cover up for what we need to give up! Because we realize who we really are is evident to God anyways.
That is what being AUTHENTIC is all about. Removing the masks and being real before God and others! Honest enough to EMPTY your life before God so that He can change you from the inside out!
THIS is what the disciples spent a few moments contemplating in their own hearts after hearing this news from Jesus… Jesus says, “One of you will betray Me.” The disciples question themselves, “Surely, it isn’t me! Is it?!”
At this moment, they are taking inventory of the AUTHENTICITY of their own hearts. “Could I be the one who sells Jesus out?!” “Could I be the one who turns my back on Him?!” “Could I be the one who walks away from the Lord?!”
Understand that I am not here to cause us to question our relationship with the Lord in such a way as to cause you to doubt it. But I am here to ask you to consider the AUTHENTICITY of your relationship with God, through Jesus Christ! To POUR OUT your heart to Him. To EMPTY OUT the hypocritical areas that make you a poser so that you can be AUTHENTIC in your relationship with Jesus!
That is the EXAM we need to answer every now and again in our walk with the Lord. In fact, these thoughts from Jesus could be the basis on which Paul wrote these words in I Corinthians 11:28, “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” Paul was encouraging us to eat the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner. Meaning that we need to understand what this truly represents and honoring that. Because this is no normal meal.
The Lord’s Supper represents TRUE, GENUINE Life Change through Jesus Christ! With that, it’s AUTHENTIC faith in Jesus Christ! This issue is what the disciples grappled with after Jesus made His statement about being betrayed. AUTHENTICITY. It is about our relationship with God, as well as with others!
So, how does your heart fare in this EXAM? Are you one who puts on a mask, or are your AUTHENTIC? If you are working hard to keep up appearances, then it may be time to EMPTY OUT your heart and let Jesus do a true, AUTHENTIC work in your life! ONLY Jesus is able to complete an AUTHENTIC work in you!
So, let’s think about it as He reveals…
POINT THREE: THE ELEMENTS!
→Presenting His Life!
If anyone ever represented being AVAILABLE and AUTHENTIC, it was Jesus! And as He takes time to share the meaning and purpose of the Communion ELEMENTS with His disciples, we get a clear picture of that.
Now, in these last few verses of our text today, Mark 14:22-25, Jesus institutes the New Convenant with His Disciples. And, they share in the true FIRST COMMUNION! But it is a little different from the Old Testament way, or Passover.
Think back with me, if you will. Back in Exodus 12, the ELEMENTS used in the observance of Passover are; Roasted Lamb, Unleavened Bread, Bitter Herbs and the Cup.
Yet, Jesus starts Communion off with only the Bread and the Cup, because Jesus is replacing the Old Covenant with a New Covenant! In fact, the Old Covenant was about to be fulfilled, when Jesus would go to the Cross. And, Passover was a reflection back to that Passover night in Egypt, yes. However, it was also reflective of the New Covenant to come!
Now, the Bitter Herbs are taken away because Jesus has removed the bitterness of sin by setting us free from the power and dominion of sin! And, we don’t eat lamb at this table anymore because Jesus is the perfect lamb who takes away the sin of the world! Yet, Jesus focuses on the two remaining ELEMENTS – the bread and the cup.
Mark 14:22-24, “While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is POURED OUT for many.’”
For the sake of those who may not be familiar with the meaning and purpose of these two ELEMENTS, I will take a moment to share…
1. The BREAD.
Jesus says, this is His Body, broken for us. Pierced through for our benefit.
Unleavened, being without sin.
John 6:35 - Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
2. The CUP.
Jesus has shed His blood for the covering and cleansing of our sins.
Making atonement for our sins, meaning that they are washed away!
Ephesians 1:7 – In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
So, these two ELEMENTS, the Bread and the Cup, are to serve as a constant reminder to us of how Jesus POURED HIMSELF OUT for us.
And this is where I want this message to climax for us today. Jesus makes this statement in Mark 12:24, about what He was about to do. This simple, yet profound phrase! “…which is POURED OUT for many.” Here, I see nothing but Jesus doing what we read of in Philippians 2:7, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant.” Jesus POURED Himself OUT for me! And, for you! He EMPTIED Himself so that we might benefit!
Was He AVAILABLE? Yes, of course, He was!
Was He AUTHENTIC? He was, absolutely!
I love what John 15:13 has to say about Jesus and what He did for us. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Friends, Jesus put Himself in a position to be made nothing, and of no reputation. He allowed everything to be stripped of Him as He POURED Himself OUT for you and for me! And that is why we still CELEBRATE & REMEMBER Christ’s sacrifice for us at COMMUNION with the BREAD & the CUP! Hallelujah, what a Savior we have!
AS WE CLOSE:
There is an old saying that we used to hear, that I mentioned earlier, “He died for me, so I will live for Him!” In that statement, there is an element of mutuality spoken. Meaning, that since He did something for me, then I will do something, in response, for Him.
With that, I want to challenge each of us to EMPTY ourselves out for Him. Rid yourself of vain ambitions and selfish motives to be AVAILABLE to Him, at any moment, to do His will! (AVAILABLE for any EVENT Christ brings to us.) The owner of the home that Jesus and His disciples used to celebrate the Passover made it available to them because He was AVAILABLE to God to be used. Each of us need that on a personal level ourselves. Then, ask God to search your heart and try your faith to see that it be AUTHENTIC! (That is the EXAM we need to answer.) Because all too often, we are conformists rather than confirmed. We are wearing masks to cover things up instead of bearing the marks of a true disciple of Christ.
But, Jesus was both AVAILABLE & AUTHENTIC for us. (Those were essential ELEMENTS in Christ’s life!) Again, Philippians 2:7 says this about Jesus, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant.” And in doing so, Jesus became the perfect bond-servant. And He made himself AUTHENTIC & AVAILABLE to us by way of EMPTYING Himself for us! Meaning that He made Himself NOTHING. He had no REPUTATION. He STRIPPED Himself of something for our benefit.
So, don’t you think we should be the same? As a disciple of Christ, we are to be “little Christ’s!” Meaning that we walk like Him, we talk like Him, and we act like Him! If that is our goal, then it is about EMPTYING OURSELVES as well. It is about being POURED OUT so that we take on the form of a PERFECT BOND-SERVANT. Church! Let’s EMPTY ourselves today so that we can be filled with the fullness of Christ! It’s time to be POURED OUT before the Lord!
ALTAR CALL:
Salvation.
Make yourself AVAILABLE to the Lord! (Been holding out way too long.)
Time to be an AUTHENTIC Disciple of Christ! (Been faking it way too long.)
EMPTY you life onto Christ – to be fulfilled by Him!
COMMUNION:
Share in Communion together.
Sing, “I Surrender All” & “Surely The Presence”
