If we are going to enjoy life, we have to have a sense of humor. God has a sense of humor. I know some folks have the idea that God sits up in heaven and never cracks a smile.
But I do not believe that, I sincerely believe God looks down upon what He has created and has the same kind of joy that we grandparents have as we watch our grandchildren.
Illus: God has to have a sense of humor:
• Just look at a giraffe, hippopotamus, or a monkey and tell me that God does not have a sense of humor. Anyone who would create something as strange as these critters has to have a sense of humor.
• Just look how God gave children this unlimited energy, knowing that it is our job as adults, who do not have half the energy, to try and keep up with them and to watch over them to keep them from killing themselves.
Yes, God has a sense of humor.
Illus: There used to be a television program in the 50’s starring Art Linkletter, that was called “People are funny”. All of us who have watched it did so with much laughter.
But you really do not have to watch that television program any more to get a laugh. Some of the best laughs we have are found at the local malls; just watch people. For example:
• Look at some of these young boys walking around wearing blue jeans that are ten times too big for them. They are constantly trying to pull them up. They act like they can’t figure out how to solve that problem.
• Watch some of these young girls wearing their little sister’s blue-jeans that are ten times too small for them. It makes you wonder how they ever got them on and how they will ever get them off. They will have to call 911.
• Look at some of the haircuts that these young people have these days. I can remember when if you went to a barber shop and came out looking like some of these young people, you had a good law suit.
• Look at these men and women with tattoos all over their bodies. Didn’t anyone tell them that those things don’t come off?
• Look at these people who have earrings every place imaginable on their bodies.
Art Linkletter was right … PEOPLE ARE FUNNY! But sometime they are downright RIDICULOUS!
It would be fun to be able to look in the MIND of some folks and see what they are using for a brain. They say there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum, but I am not sure that is true anymore! We can’t look into the minds of people, but we can look at their life, and their life tells us what is important to them.
Let’s look at the lives of three people in this sermon, and you may see yourself in one of them. Let’s look at-
I. THE WOMAN
Look at Matthew 26:6-7. We read, “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” There has been a great deal of speculation about where this took place.
Many make a great deal of WHERE this happened. The thing that is important in our text is not WHERE it happened, but WHAT happened!
WHAT DID THE WOMAN DO? The Bible says, “There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.”
WHY WOULD SHE DO SUCH A THING? It could only be for one of two reasons:
A. SHE LOST HER MIND
This happens to some people, in fact, I think I know some who have lost their minds. When people lose their mind they do some dumb things.
Illus: Three men die and are waiting at the Pearly Gates when St. Peter tells them that there will be a slight delay, but not to worry, he will have Albert Einstein visit with them during their wait.
• Albert arrives and introduces himself to the first man and asks, "What is your IQ?" to which the first man answers, "241." "That is wonderful!" says Albert. "We will talk about the Grand Unification Theory and the mysteries of the Universe. We will have much to discuss!"
• Albert introduces himself to the second man and asks, "What is your IQ?" to which the second man answers, "144." "That is great!" says Albert. "We can discuss politics and current affairs. We will have much to discuss!"
• Albert goes to the third man and asks, "What is your IQ?" to which the third man answers, "51." "Excellent!" exclaims Albert. “We can talk about NASCAR!"
Did this woman lose her mind? Is that why she took that precious ointment and poured it on the Lord Jesus? No, I do not think so. She did not lose her mind.
B. SHE LOST HER HEART
Matthew does not say what the ointment (murou) was. He simply stated that it was “very precious.” If it had been sold, it would have brought a great price.
Illus: In the New Testament, an alabaster of nard (murou) was a present for a king.
Love will make you do some STRANGE things!
Illus: People in love do some strange things, such as:
• Some rent billboards on the side of the road to express their love for someone.
• Some buy ads in the newspaper to express their love for someone.
• Some climb tall water towers risking their life just to write the name of a loved one on the water tank.
• Some have hired airplanes to write in the sky about their love for someone..
• Some have put tattoos on their arms to express their love for someone.
Love will make you do some strange things.
Illus: Did you hear about the boy at the end of his first date with a pretty young girl? Emboldened by the night, he decides to try for that important first kiss.
• With an air of confidence, her back is against the wall, he leans with his hand against the wall and, smiling, he says to her, "Darling, how 'bout a goodnight kiss?"
• Horrified, she replies, "Are you mad? My parents will see us!"
• "Oh come on! Who's gonna see us at this hour?"
• "No, please. Can you imagine if we get caught?"
• "Oh come on, there's nobody around, they're all sleeping!"
• "No way. It's just too risky!"
• "Oh please, please, I like you so much!!"
• "No, no, and no. I like you too, but I just can't!"
• "Oh yes you can. Please?"
• "NO, no. I just can't."
• "Pleeeeease?..."
Out of the blue, the porch light goes on, and the girl's sister shows up in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes. In a sleepy voice the sister says: "Dad says to go ahead and give him a kiss. Or if you like I will kiss him. Dad says if he really wants a kiss that bad, he will come down and give him one. But for crying out loud tell him to take his hand off the intercom button!"
A lot of crazy things have been done by people in love. And listen, it might seem crazy that this woman would take this very costly ointment and pour it on the head of the Lord Jesus. But it did not seem crazy to her, because she loved the Lord more than she loved what the ointment cost.
Illus: An older gentleman that often came by to see Dr. Odell Belger, told him that many years ago he and his brother were driving down the road in a well preserved 55 Chevrolet truck. They stopped for some gas, and a man walked up to his brother and offered him $5,000 for the truck. He very politely said, “No, you do not have enough money to buy this truck.” Several weeks went by, and he was riding in this truck again, They saw this man that wanted to buy his truck and he said, “You going to sell me that truck today?” The man said, “Remember what I told you the last time you asked? You do not have enough money to buy this truck!” The man said, “I will tell you what, I will give you $8,000 for the truck!” The man looked at him and said, “No, I will not sell my truck.” He got back in the truck and his brother said to him, “Joe, I think you should have taken that…that was a good offer.” He looked at his brother and said, “If it is worth that much to him, it is worth more than that to me! He does not have enough money to buy this truck.”
This is the way this woman felt about the Lord. The Lord meant more to her than anything she possessed, and she lovingly poured the ointment upon Him.
She was not like many people. When they buy everything they want to buy with their money, if there is any left over, they will give it to the Lord. No, the Lord meant so much to her that she felt He DESERVED THE VERY BEST!
We see THE WOMAN and -
II. THE DISCIPLES
Look at verse 8. We read, “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?”
Illus: Hallmark Cards used to have a slogan that read, “If you care enough to give the very best!”
Illus: Sometimes people ask me, “Pastor, do you ever shop at the ‘Flea Market?’” No, I do not! But let me tell you why. Because it has been my experience that people will haul a bunch of junk down there and they want you to pay them for the privilege of hauling their junk away.
Flea Markets should have a sign over their entrance that says, “We care the least, and give you the very worst!”
Illus: A man came to his pastor’s office one Saturday. The pastor asked him what he had been doing? He said, “Pastor, I have been down at the flea market and I bought a real nice half inch drill. Let me show it to you.” He went and got it and brought it into the office and showed it to the pastor. It looked like it was in mint condition. He unwound the cord and plugged it in and pulled the trigger, and nothing happen. He pushed some of the controls and still nothing happened! He decided he better open it up and look at the motor. But then he realized why he was able to buy it so cheap….IT HAD NO MOTOR!
This woman loved the Lord enough to give HER VERY BEST!
But these disciples thought that her giving her very best was a WASTE! They would have no problem with her giving her worst, but to give her best was a WASTE!
Did you know there are still people, some who claim to be Christians, who think it is a waste when we put the Lord above everything in our life?
• Some think it is a waste of time for them to attend the Sunday evening service. That time is much too valuable and they would rather watch television.
• Some think it is a waste to tithe. That money is much too precious to give to the Lord. They would rather use it to buy things they want than to give it to the Lord.
Some think it is waste of time to witness. They feel that time is much too valuable, and they could use that time playing golf, hunting, fishing etc.
Make no mistake about it! God’s church is still full of disciples that would have been complaining about pouring the ointment on the Lord if they were there!
Illus: This is the way some feel about foreign missions. You can gather a couple thousand dollars to send to the mission field to help some struggling church, and some will say, “Hey, I do not mind sending a few dollars but we could use that money in this church.” Of course you can, you can always find some place to use money. But if you love souls abroad, you do not see giving to missions as a waste!
Illus: One father, whose son went into he ministry, said, “I had great plans for my son and he is throwing his life away, studying to be a missionary.”
Notice, the Bible tells us, “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?”
SHAME ON THESE DISCIPLES FOR SEEING HER GIVING HER BEST AS A WASTE! We can tell what these disciples were thinking by their reaction to what she had done.
We see THE WOMAN, THE DISCIPLES and -
III. THE SINNER
Look at Matthew 26:15, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.”
What kind of man was JUDAS? He was a coin collector. To him, coins were more valuable than the Lord Jesus.
A lot of folks collect things.
SOME ARE ANTIQUE COLLECTORS
Illus: Did you hear about the group that was being guided through Buckingham palace? They were being shown the many valuable pieces of furniture. The tour guide said, “See that bed? That goes back to Henry the VIII.” A “red neck” from South Carolina was there. He was not at all impressed. He turned to his wife and said, “So what! If we don’t send that payment on the bed we have, it goes back to Sears on the sixteenth.”
SOME ARE ANIMAL COLLECTORS.
Their house is filled with ceramic frogs, lizards, penguins. Panda bears and birds.
Illus: Did you hear about the Panda bear that walks into a restaurant? He orders a large plate of bamboo shoots and eats every bamboo shoot on the plate.
• After politely paying for his meal, he pulls out a gun and shoots it in the air. He immediately walks out the door.
• "Why did you do that?" hollered the confused waitress.
• Looking back over his shoulder the panda says "I'm a panda". "Look it up in the dictionary."
• The waitress locates the dictionary on her bosses desk and searches for the definition of panda bear. Finding it she reads, "Panda Bear - A large black and white bear like mammal, native to the far east. Eats shoots and leaves."
We have people today placing great value on all kinds of collectable things.
JUDAS WAS A COIN COLLECTOR.
To Judas, coins were so valuable that he literally sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver.
Perhaps some are saying, “I did not know you could be a disciple of the Lord and be a sinner.” Listen, you can be a sinner and be a...
• Sunday school teacher
• Deacon
• Pastor of a church
• Choir member
• Usher
A sinner should not hold any of those positions, but one could. You could be a sinner and have everyone in the church thinking you are saved, but, you can not fool Jesus.
Judas had everyone fooled, but he did not have Jesus fooled in the slightest. Look at John 6:70, “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
Listen, Judas reveals how he feels about the Lord. He was willing to sell the Lord for thirty pieces of silver, something he could probably hold in one hand.
If we were there and saw Judas, we all would have thought he was a good Christian. His actions proved other wise.
Conclusion:
Jesus said to Peter, in John 21:15, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”
If Jesus had thirty pieces of silver in His hands and held them before Judas and asked, “...lovest thou me more than these?” Judas would have had to say, “No, Lord. I love those coins more than I love You.”
People do this every Sunday when the Lord’s offering is taken up. Judas loved money. This is why the Bible says, in verse 15 of our text, “And (Judas) said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?”
What is in your life that you are selling the Lord for? If you are putting anything ahead of the Lord, you are selling him out.
The Bible asks the soul searching, rhetorical question in Mark 8:36. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Just how valuable is the Lord Jesus Christ to you?
I. THE WOMAN
II. THE DISCIPLES
III. THE SINNER
