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Preached:
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Text: Mark 14:3-5
"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat
at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why
was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more
than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they
murmured against her."
Introduction:
This may sound like an unusual question, but let me ask you something,
WHAT IS SACRIFICE?
The reason I asked that
question is because a sacrifice means different things to different
people, such as:
What I might call a sacrifice, you might
not call a sacrifice
What you call a sacrifice, I might not
call a sacrifice
For example, there are
people in this congregation that enjoy packing up and going to some God
forsaken jungle on their vacation. They pull out a pup tent, then crawl
inside of a mosquito infested tent, and say, "Wow! This is really
living!"
Now you might call that a
vacation, but to give up a nice comfortable bed for something like that,
would be a tremendous sacrifice for me!
In fact, I think a
sacrifice is staying in an air-conditioned room in a Holiday Inn, having
to watch a black and white television.
What I call a sacrifice and
what you call a sacrifice may not be the same thing. But when it comes to
SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES we cannot have a difference of opinion. God knows
what a sacrifice is, but it is important that we also know.
Illus:
A father gave his young girl a generous weekly allowance, on the
condition that she kept good records of how she spent the money. At the
end of the month, the dad was going to check on how she spent the money.
When he checked on how she did, he was delighted that she had kept good
records. But he came across several items that were listed as TLOK. In
fact, about 1/5 of her money was listed this way. He asked her what TLOK
meant.
She said, "Well,
it’s this way. Sometimes I did not jot down the amounts I spent. When
I sat down to try to jot down all that I spent, I couldn’t for the
life of me remember where I had spent all that money. I couldn’t make
my accounts balance, so I placed several dollars under TLOK."
The father said, "But
what does it mean?" She said it means, "THE LORD ONLY
KNOWS!"
That is true, and the Lord
knows what a sacrifice is, but we also need to find out what a SACRIFICE
IS!
DID YOU KNOW THAT TO LIVE A
RIGHTEOUS LIFE THERE HAS TO BE A SACRIFICE?
Look at Ps 4:5, we
read, "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust
in the LORD."
To live righteously means
we must sacrifice some of the activities of this world. We will not be
involved in:
• Drinking alcohol
• Using drugs
• Immoral sexual behavior
• Vile language
There are many sacrifices
we Christians have to make. But we need to make sure that what we call a
sacrifice is the same thing as what God’s Word calls a sacrifice.
In order for a sacrifice to
be classified as such, it requires three things.
I. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
FREELY GIVEN
A sacrifice offered by an
unwilling heart is not acceptable.
Look what the
Psalmist said in Psa. 54:6. "I will FREELY SACRIFICE unto thee: I
will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good."
Suppose your wife told you
that if you did not pull your lazy body out of bed and come to church with
her this morning, you were going to have to start washing your own dirty
socks. You decided it might be a good thing to come to church today
because you did not want to wash your dirty socks. THAT IS NOT A
SACRIFICE!
You did not come of your
own FREE WILL; you came because of a threat.
A sacrifice must be FREELY
GIVEN.
Illus:
Dr. Odell Belger, while he was attending South Eastern Bible College in
Lakeland, Florida, worked at the local hospital in the Intensive Care
Department. While he worked there, he also was asked to serve on the
cardiac arrest team. He went through extensive training about how to
take care of these emergencies. But as he started taking that training,
he had some concerns. One of them was that he had a very weak stomach,
and he was not sure he would be able to do the mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. But he never expressed that concern with anyone. He
completed the training. One day the team got a call to rush to a certain
room. They all showed up with the equipment they needed and revive this
man. This is the way they did it: they took turns doing the
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while the other one pushed on the
patient’s chest. A couple of days later, they all were instructed to
come to a certain room where another man had to be revived. One of the
team members jumped down and started pushing on his chest, and another
team member jumped down and did the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This
process kept taking place, and each one of the team members took their
turn. Dr. Belger would not take a turn doing the mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. They finally came to him and said, "Listen, if
you are going to be on the team, you have got to take your turn."
They were very adamant about it, and he said, "Alright, the next
time we have a call I will take my turn." Several days went by,
and they got a call and they were to go to the emergency room. The team
rushed down with the equipment. One by one they showed up within
minutes. Finally Dr. Belger arrived, and he looked and saw this old
woman laying on the floor. She had no teeth, and tobacco juice was
running out of the side of her mouth. She gave a new meaning to the
expression, "It’s a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it!"
He started not to do it, but his supervisor was right there watching,
and she had already told him if he was not willing to do this he would
loose his job. With great reluctance he took his turn. Finally, he shut
his eyes and did what he had to do and the lady was revived.
Now
listen, when he gets to heaven, and the Lord starts to go over the
sacrifices he made in his life, and the Lord does not mention this
particular thing, he can’t say, "Lord, I believe you
overlooked something. Remember that great sacrifice I made when I gave
that old woman with tobacco juice running out of her mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation?"
If he does try to remind
the Lord about this situation, the Lord is going to remind him that a
sacrifice is something FREELY GIVEN! The only reason he did it was to keep
his job. He did not do it freely, he got something for it; he got to keep
his job.
A SACRIFICE MUST BE FREELY
GIVEN, but also-
II. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
COMPLETELY GIVEN
For example, partial
sacrifices are not acceptable – sacrificial animals had to die, not just
SUFFER A LITTLE WHILE.
This is the kind of
sacrifice that people today are offering to the Lord. That is, they do not
mind suffering a little bit, but they are not willing to give themselves
COMPLETELY, to the point that they are willing to die for the cause of
Christ.
Illus:
We have too many of these "Let’s Make A Deal"
Christians. They say, "Lord, if you are willing to compromise a
little here, then I am willing to compromise a little there."
But listen, if you are
waiting for the Lord to compromise, you are going to be waiting a very
long time, because God does not compromise with anyone.
A sacrifice must be
COMPLETELY GIVEN.
Remember the story in Mark
12 of the widow who gave all?
Look at Mark 12:
41-44. We read, "And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and
beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were
rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in
two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples,
and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast
more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did
cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she
had, even all her living."
Notice that the Bible tells
us that Jesus sat over against the treasury to watch people cast their
money in the plate.
And the Bible says many
there were rich, and they cast in much. That is, they gave a good
offering.
But then a poor widow came
in, and when the plate was passed before her, she threw in TWO MITES.
The Lord called his
disciples and said, "Let me teach you fellows something."
With eager ears they started listening. He told them that when the
offering was just taken, the rich put in some large offerings.
But in verse 44 He
told them the reason for them giving large offerings. "For all
they did cast in of their abundance."
In other words, they gave
out of their abundance, it did not hurt them in the slightest to give a
big offering.
But when that Widow
came in and threw in those two mites, she gave more than all of them put
together, because, "..she of her want did cast in ALL THAT SHE
HAD, even ALL HER LIVING."
In other words, she met the
criteria of a sacrifice because a sacrifice must be COMPLETELY GIVEN.
Illus:
A man was walking in the basement of a store and he saw tons and tons of
sugar. He turned to the owner and said, "You sure must know how
to sell sugar." He said, "No, I do not know a thing
about selling sugar, but that fellow who sold me all that sugar knows
how to sell sugar."
Listen, that woman who gave
her all, knew how to sacrifice. SHE GAVE HER ALL!
A SACRIFICE MUST BE FREELY
GIVEN, COMPLETELY GIVEN, but also-
III. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
GIVEN AT COST
- Through the years, we all have seen
folks who love the Lord, and who worked all night on Saturday night,
but on Sunday morning they were in the house of God. THESE PEOPLE KNOW
SOMETHING ABOUT SACRIFICE. Their bodies were crying for sleep, but
they sacrificed their sleep to come to the house of God.
- Through the years, some of God’s
people have had to work until it is almost church time. They get home
tired, take a shower if they have time, and they gather the kids and
they head for the house of God. THESE PEOPLE KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT
SACRIFICE.
- Through the years, some of God’s
people have worked hard, and when they came to church they were good
stewards of God’s money, and placed God’s tithes in the offering
plate. But the preacher talks about a missions work that needs a new
roof on their little tin hut they worship in. The hard working man
thinks to himself, I have money to spare, but I want to buy a new boat
to go fishing in, and if I give the money to missions, I won’t be
able to do that. But the need seems so great that he takes that boat
money that he had been saving, and sends it off to this little church.
THIS MAN KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT SACRIFICE.
A SACRIFICE IS ALWAYS
SOMETHING WITH A COST
But when we think of
SACRIFICES, we need to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ gave the
greatest sacrifice that was ever given.
Does His sacrifice meet the
criteria of being a genuine sacrifice? For example:
(1) WAS HIS SACRIFICE
FREELY GIVEN?
Yes, it was! Look at
John 10:15. We read that the Lord said, "As the Father knoweth me,
even so know I the Father: AND I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THE SHEEP."
We do not know exactly how
many Roman soldiers came into the garden to arrest Him. But we do know
that if He so chose, He could have used His divine power and driven every
one of them to their knees.
· It was not the soldiers
that put Him on that cross
· It was not the spikes
that held Him on that cross
It was His love for us that
caused Him to FREELY LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US.
WAS HIS SACRIFICE FREELY
GIVEN? Yes, it was!
(2) WAS IT COMPLETELY
GIVEN?
Yes, it was! The Lord could
not have come off that cross, because had He come off the cross, He would
not have met the criteria of what a sacrifice is. HE HAD TO COMPLETELY
GIVE ALL!
Look at Romans 5:6-8,
we read, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST
DIED FOR US."
He did more than just
suffer for us, the Bible says, HE DIED FOR US!
WAS HIS SACRIFICE FREELY
GIVEN and COMPLETELY GIVEN? It certainly was!
(3) WAS IT GIVEN AT A
COST?
Yes, it was!
Look at Matthew 20:
28. We read, "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
1 Timothy 2: 6 says
it this way, "Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified
in due time."
Look at the word "ransom".
This is the word "antilutron" which means a redemption
price.
For example, evil men may
break into a home and kidnap a loved one, and hold them for ransom. They
might send a note saying, "I want a million dollars or else I will
kill your loved one."
We all have been held
ransom by Satan, and the Lord paid the ultimate price by giving His life
that we might be free.
Had He not, we all would
have died, but He died for us.
What a tremendous COST He
paid for our sins. This is the greatest Sacrifice that has ever been made.
Never has anyone who had so
much, given it all up to die for us.
Conclusion:
Now the Lord tells us He
wants us to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice unto Him.
(1) It has to be FREELY
GIVEN
(2) It has to be COMPLETELY
GIVEN
(3) It has to be GIVEN AT A
COST
Are you willing to give
such a SACRIFICE to the Lord, who has given such a great SACRIFICE for
you?
The woman in our text
knew something about sacrifice. Look again at Mark 14:3-9. "And
being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there
came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very
precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste
of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three
hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against
her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a
good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye
will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what
she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily
I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the
whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a
memorial of her."
The Lord told this
crowd of complainers to, "let her alone". Why? Because
the Lord saw the sacrifice she made, and He is always pleased when one of
His children sacrifice for Him.
Listen, when you make
sacrifices for the Lord that meet these three criteria, there will always
be people complaining and finding fault with what you do. Do not worry
about that crowd, the Lord will always come to your defense and will
reward you for eternity.
I. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
FREELY GIVEN
II. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
COMPLETELY GIVEN
III. A SACRIFICE MUST BE
GIVEN AT COST
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