January 29, 2012
Scripture:
Exodus 30:22, 34 - 38
Ephesians 5:2 - Our worship in a way is like Mary with her Alabaster box of ointment, “Mary…anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour.” Just a little while later there was another incense
Ministry:
I would like to think about the references in Scripture that talk about Mary. Lets start in Luke 10:38 & 39. Where was Mary? What was she doing? She was at the feet of Jesus learning. The chapter goes on to talk about Martha, telling us how she was troubled with much serving. One thing was needful, and that was what Mary was doing. If we are not learning about the Lord, we will be troubled with many things, like Martha. Here, Mary chose the good part: to learn about the Lord.
Next, read John 11:18 - 45. Here Mary is mourning. So, first she was learning, then she was mourning.
Let’s go to the next chapter. Read John 12:1 - 3. In this occasion, we see Mary as a worshipper. This has been the topic before us this morning. We can take a lesson from Mary. First, she was at His feet learning, Then, when death came and she was mourning, Jesus wept with her. Now she is at His feet again. She is at His feet in every occasion. When she broke the box of ointment, the house was filled with that odour. This morning we are here worshipping Him. I hope that while we have been worshipping, there has been a sweet perfume. As we have in the hymn, “To all our prayers and praises Christ adds His sweet perfume.” I trust we can learn from Mary. May God bless His word to our hearts.
Hymn 333 – Come to the Saviour make no delay
Prayer
2 Samuel 10
In chapter 9, we read how David showed kindness to Mephiboseth. David gave Mephiboseth all the land that was Saul’s and allowed him to sit at the king’s table. Mephiboseth accepted the kindness that David showed to him. In today’s chapter, David tried again to show kindness to someone.
The chapter begins with the death of the king of Ammon. The deceased king’s son, Hanun, took over as king. As an act of kindness, David thought that he should send a gift to Hanun. Remember that in chapter 8, David fought against Ammon. Do you think that this will affect whether or not the king of Ammon receives his gift?
David sent his servants to Ammon with the gift. When they arrived, the princes of Ammon told Hanun that they weren’t too sure about these men. They thought they were coming to spy out the land and see how they could overthrow them. King Hanun agreed with the princes, and so he disrespected David’s gift. He took David’s servants and cut off half their beards and half their garments. David’s men probably had full beard. In this time of history, beards were very important. They could get new clothes, but to not have a beard was embarrassing. When you didn’t have a beard, you were looked down on, or thought to be a slave. David told the men to stay in Jericho until their beards were regrown.
As the men of Ammon thought about what they had done, they started to think that they had done the wrong thing. They thought that David would be upset with them and declare war against them. To be prepared for war, the Ammonites called on the Syrians for help, since they didn’t have a very big army of their own.
When David heard that Ammon was getting ready for war, he sent Joab and his mighty men to Ammon. When Joab arrived at Ammon, Ammon set the battle in array at the gate of the city. While Joab and his men were fighting Ammon, the Syrians came up and started to fight them from behind. When Joab saw that they were being attacked from both sides, he spilt his army into two. Joab told his brother to take half the army and fight the Ammonites. Then he took half the army and fought the Syrians. This tactic worked: when Joab approached the Syrians, they fled. Once the Ammonites saw that the Syrians had fled, they fled into their cities.
David tried to show kindness to Ammon and it wasn’t accepted and David ended up winning the battle. There are two choices. Mephiboseth received David’s kindness, but Ammon refused the kindness and it ended in war. We have two choices as well: to receive the Lord’s kindness or refuse it. May we each chose to receive it.
Luke 9:43-62
Last time we saw the Lord coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration and rebuking the devil out of the man’s son. All the people were amazed, and recognised this as the power of God.
As the people were marvelling, Jesus turned to the disciples and told them to let “these sayings” sink down into there ears. What sayings? The sayings of Jesus’ deliverance into the hands of men. He, the Son of Man, was going to be delivered into the hands of man. He had delivered the boy to his father, and now He Himself was going to be delivered up.
The disciples didn’t understand this. They had seen Jesus in His power and they had seen Him in His glory, so they couldn’t understand that He was going to go to the depths of humility. They thought that Jesus was going to set up His earthly kingdom at that time, but Jesus told them that they were wrong.
The disciples were very human and began to argue about which one of them would be the greatest. Their true hearts were revealed, and the Lord perceived it. He brought before them the object lesson of a little child. When children are very young, they aren’t so proud as they soon grow to be. The Lord told the disciples that they needed to receive children - an act that requires humility - in His name. However, as we see from the next section, the disciples were more concerned about “us” than “Thy name.” They were more concerned with themselves than with the Lord. They wanted preeminence, but God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble (James 4:6). Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
The disciples then told the Lord about a man who was casting out devils in His name, but they forbad him to because “he followeth not with us.” (v.49). Jesus said, “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” This man was with them, but not with “us”.
At different times in Jesus’ ministry people tried to kill Him, but they couldn’t because His hour hadn’t come yet. Now, already here in Luke, His time had come and so He headed for Jerusalem. Our Lord knew what awaited Him there, and yet He was constant in the Father’s will. Isaiah 50:7 tells us that he set his face “like a flint”. There was, however, still some work for Him to do.
While on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent some of His disciples on ahead to make things ready for a stop-off at a Samaritan city. The Samaritans rejected Him, though, because He was going to Jerusalem. James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on these people, like Elijah did; but the Lord was here to show grace, not judgement. There will be a time for judgement, but that’s in the future. This again shows the disciples hearts’, and again it’s in failure. They want to kill instead of seeing the Lord bless. The Lord didn’t come to kill, but to save.
So just as the Children of Ammon missed out on David’s blessing by rejecting him; so the Samaritans rejected the Lord and missed His blessing. We also have the disciples’ examples not to follow. The Lord had a purpose: to do His Father’s will; but the disciples were more concerned about themselves, and displayed pride.
Hymn 328 - A little child of seven
Prayer