In John 12:3 we read, “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
Mary took a year’s worth of wages and anoints the feet of Jesus. When is the last time you gave a years’ worth of your wages in service to God? If the average wage in our country is fifty thousand, when is the last time you and I gave that much?
I know, you immediately run to remind me that giving is to come from the heart. You are absolutely right. When is the last time you gave joyfully from the heart a year’s wages? Oh, I know, you want to remind me of Mark 12:41-44 where the widow put in two copper coins worth only a few cents. You would be right, but remember Jesus said she gave out of her poverty. She put in 100% of her income. She gave “all she had to live on.”
In John 12:24-25, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
We want a deathless Christianity. A Christianity that allows me to assemble on Sunday mornings with no interference in my life. We argue over the furniture, the air conditioning, the carpet, woman’s roles, bible versions and the amount of alcohol in the water Jesus turned into wine. Why? Because our Christianity is toothless. Unless you die, and without Christ dying, there is no Christianity.
No amount of money, no amount of time, no amount of anything will replace the fact that you must die. It’s time for the church to stop talking about it and start living it. I ask you again, when is the last time you gave a years’ worth of your wages to God? But that’s not biblical preacher. Let me rephrase the question then. When is the last time you gave all, you had to Jesus? When did you give out of your poverty? Not knowing where your next meal might come from. When did you deny yourself a vacation? A trip around the world. Cut investment so that the Kingdom of God could be glorified. If you are still wanting to argue that it’s not about money preacher. Go back and reread this letter. You are right, no amount of money will meet the requirement. You must die. Then you can give all you have. I ask you again, when is the last time you gave every penny, every ounce of blood that flows through your body to God? When is the last time you denied yourself anything, so that the Kingdom of God could be glorified? I’m not talking about giving from excess. Like the widow, when did you give from your poverty? Let me close with this, in 2 Corinthians 13:5 we read, “5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
