IT WAS THE BEST OF INTENTIONS; IT WAS THE WORST OF INTENTIONS

Sermon Notes, March 13, 2016

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon this week was titled “It Was the Best of Intentions; It Was the Worst of Intentions.” His scripture reference was John 12:1-8, the story of dinner in Bethany at the home of Martha, Lazarus and Mary when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume.  Pastor Garry highlighted the responses to Jesus of Martha, of Mary and of Judas.

            Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.  While Martha was busy taking care of her guests Mary was worshiping at the feet of Jesus.  Mathew Henry writes, “Mary gave a token of love to Christ, who had given real tokens of love to her and her family.  God’s anointed should be our anointed.  As God poured on Him the oil of gladness above His fellows, let us pour on Him the ointment of our best affections.”  Are we giving Him our best every day?

Martha, with the best of intentions, became so busy that she missed the opportunity to give Christ the time and worship that He desired.  Are we so consumed with the details of life that we miss the importance and true meaning of following Christ?  Are we giving Him our best when we are focused on other things?

As Mary is pouring out her best affections on Jesus, Judas lashes out with a rebuke.  He was angered by Mary’s gift because of greed.  He took care of the money, and kept some for himself.  Judas might have been walking with Jesus, but He really didn’t believe in Him.  In all the other disciples, you can see that at some point their lives had changed.  The more they walked with Christ, the more like Him they became. 

In the same way, many people today who claim to follow Christ show no difference between their lives before they accepted Christ and after they accepted Him.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. (Titus 1:15-16)  Pastor and author Craig Groschel calls these people Christian Atheists.  Simply put “The Christian Atheist believes in God, but lives as though He doesn’t exist.”  They don’t really know Him, are ashamed of their past, aren’t sure of His love for them, don’t believe Him in prayer, don’t think that He is fair, won’t forgive, don’t believe that He can change them, still worry all the time, pursue happiness at any cost, trust more in money, don’t share their faith, don’t believe.  Many of us can relate to this list.  Even Peter had his moments. 

The big difference between a true believer of Christ and the Christian Atheist is that when the true believes experiences a time of doubt, they turn to God for answers.  The Christian Atheist, on the other hand, allows the doubt to permeate their very being.   They turn to worldly advisors and sinful desires instead of to the one who truly loves them.  Like Judas Iscariot, who walked closely with Jesus, we tend to believe in Christ with limitations.

Jesus’ response to Judas is a call for us to look at our disbelief and truly trust Him.  It is a call for us to turn our hearts toward Jesus on a daily basis.  It’s also a call for us to help the poor, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and share the Gospel with all who are spiritually dying.

We need to ask ourselves who we are in this story.  Are we like Martha, who became so busy she missed the opportunity to give Christ the time and worship He deserved?  Or do we identify with Judas, so concerned with his own desires that he failed to take care of those around him, and even though he walked closely with Jesus he didn’t truly believe him?  Or are we more like Mary, so in tune with the Messiah that she couldn’t help but to give Him her very best in order to honor and worship Him?