Title: What Will You Be Remembered For
Bible Book: John 12 : 1-11
Author: David Cook
Subject: Legacy; Service; Servant
Objective:
Introduction
What do you want people to remember about you after your life is over? This morning, I want us to look at three things to be remembered for and one thing we don’t want to be remembered for. We should want to be remembered…
I. We Want To Be Remembered For Serving The Lord
“There they made Him a supper; and Martha served…” (12:2)
A. Why Do We Serve The Lord
Why do we serve the Lord? Revelation 1:5-7, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
He Loves Us – Doubt His love? Look to the cross! He Has Lifted Us – From Sin to Service!
He has Loosed Us- Hell to Heaven, Guilt to Grace, Hopeless to hope! He is Lord Over Us – Regrets behind & Rewards ahead!
B. How Do We Serve The Lord
1. With Our Time
Busters - TV, Internet, Worrying, Talking Negatively
Builders – Bonding w/family, friends – Bible – Believers – Building up others and yourself
2. With Our Tithes & Treasures
No one here would probably think about robbing a neighbor –yet we rob God when we are not faithful to bring our tithes and offerings. The wrong thinking is, “It is mine.” Correct thinking – “It’s God’s.” Psalm 24:1, The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof. The Purpose of the tithe is to learn to put God first in your life. The Problem of the tithe is that God has blessed us greatly – yet we find it hard to give back. The Perspective of the tithe is that I’m giving first to God! The Promise of the tithe is that God will “open the windows of heaven and pour out such blessing we will not have room for it.”
3. With Our Testimony
Recently I read about Southern Baptist missionaries and how they deal frequently panic attacks, depression, health problems, spiritual oppression. Nothing will stop them because they love Jesus more than life and they love the people they are trying to serve. When asked how others can pray for them, one couple offered a simple
Request: "intimacy with the Lord." Period. Everything else is secondary…”
II. We Want To Be Remembered For Our Sacrifice To The Lord
“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” (3)
Has it cost you anything lately to follow Jesus? Because of her love for her Lord, Mary gave Him her best. The perfume she anointed Jesus with was worth well over a year’s wages. 4 Gifts we can sacrifice to the Lord today…
A. Sacrifice Our Priorities To The Lord
Listen to what 1 John 2:15,16, "Don’t love the world’s ways...The lust for physical pleasure. The ambition to buy everything that appeals to you & the pride that comes from wealth & importance. These are not from God but they are from the world."
What does the world prioritize? – Pleasure – Possessions – Pride
I must choose to find my priorities from the world or the Word of God
B. Sacrifice Our Person To The Lord
Mark 14:8, “She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.”
Billy Graham was asked on TV, “What do you spend your time thinking about now that you have the time to stay home and do just that?” His response was, “I am spending a lot of my time contemplating the Great Commandment. I want to understand what it means to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.”
Most of us are not able to preach like Billy Graham – but are we willing to love the Lord with our whole lives and do the things He calls us to? Are we willing to sacrifice a little each day so the Lord’s Name will be lifted up?
C. Sacrifice Of Our Praise To The Lord
An elderly gentleman at a midweek meeting offered this prayer: "O Lord, we will praise Thee; we will praise Thee with an instrument of ten strings!"
People wondered what he meant, but understood when he continued, "We will praise Thee with our two eyes by looking only unto Thee. We will exalt Thee with our two ears by listening only to Thy voice. We will extol Thee with our two hands by working in Thy service. We will honor Thee with our own two feet by walking in the way of Thy statutes. We will magnify Thee with our tongue by bearing testimony to Thy loving kindness. We will worship Thee with our heart by loving only Thee. We thank Thee for this instrument, Lord; keep it in tune. May its harmonies always express Thy glory!"
D. Sacrifice Our Pride To The Lord
In Jesus’ day, a sign of an immoral woman was a lady who let her hair down. We see that Mary thought more about worshipping Jesus than she did worrying about what others thought of her. We waste too much time thinking, “What will others think?” We should be thinking, “Will this honor my Lord?”
The False Way to Live – “I’ve got to have people’s approval to feel good about myself.”
The Free Way to Live – “I have the Lord’s approval because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross of Calvary. I am free to love Him and serve others. Some will like me – some won’t!”
III. We Do Not Want To Be Remembered For Sinning Against The Lord
“But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” (4-6)
Judas did not understand. While Mary ministered to the Lord, he and the rest of the disciples did nothing. Nothing we do for the Lord is wasted!
3 Characteristics of Judas’ life:
Criticizing – Always asking “Why”
Complaining – “Could have given to the poor…”
Coveting – “thief,” “used to take what was put in the money box”
1 Timothy 6.9-11, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
How does material loss affect your happiness? Dave Guzik states, “When we live and act without contentment, we are trying to fill needs in our lives - a need to be "somebody," a need to feel secure or cared for, a need to have excitement and newness in our lives - most people try to fulfill these needs with material things, but they can only really be met by a spiritual relationship with the God who made us.
We follow Jesus first and foremost because He is God. We owe Him our lives because He is our Source, Savior, Sustainer, Sovereign, Soon Coming King!
What difference would it make in your life as you understand more and more who Jesus truly is? If you understood He alone has the words of eternal life. If you focus more on “What can I give Him” rather than “What can I get?” Prioritize your relationship with Jesus above all!
IV. We Want To Be Remembered For Soul Winning With The Lord
9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. 9-11
One reason we ought to love the Lord is because we remember what He’s done for us. Like Lazarus, we were once dead in sin – but God who is rich in mercy has made us alive in Christ!
How does revival begin in our hearts, homes, house of God? It begins when God begins to take hold of His people and we respond in humility, prayer, obedience.
A. We Must Have Personal Repentance
A great evangelist said, “You sing, "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee." But what you mean is, "Take my life and let it be. . . Don't expect me to witness and work, to tithe and teach. Just take my life and let it be."
B. We Must Have Passionate Renewal
Separate from Sin – Serve the Savior in love
C. We Must Have Power To Reach Out
Reggie McNeal says, “One mark of spiritual greatness is compassion for one’s tormentors.” It takes God’s Holy Spirit power working though us to love like that.
D. We Must Have His Presence That Reassures
How many people would we share Christ with each day if God gave us a $1,000 check for each person we witnessed to at the end of the month? I have a feeling our witness for Christ would grow by leaps and bounds.
The truth is – God does promise riches to those who witness of Him to others. He promises His presence, power, peace, purpose. He says, “I’ll be with you always.” He promises the Crown of Rejoicing in Heaven to those who join Him in sharing the good news of eternal life with those who are lost.
Old Baptist preacher Vance Havner once said, “It has been a long time since I have heard parents speak of their unsaved boy or girl as being lost. Young couples who are prospering materially and socially are admired and congratulated, but if they do not know Jesus Christ, they are not doing well. We act as if their lostness were incidental, that it does not matter…If our unsaved friends were in danger otherwise, we would go to their assistance without apology. Yet Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and died for their salvation. There is something hypocritical about claiming to believe that and then acting as though it was unimportant.”
E. We Must Have Perspective To Remember
She did what she could when she could. She knew “Now” was the time to serve. She wouldn’t have Jesus there always. A week later – He would lay down His life on the cross of Calvary to pay sin’s price. The poor would always be there, but not Jesus.
That’s the perspective we need today. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of service, sacrifice, soul winning. To delay and miss the opportunity is sin.
Mary’s offering left a scent on Jesus all the way to the tomb – we are still talking about it today. What will you be remembered for?
