Living Sacrificially: True Worship and Stewardship

In our series, "The Path of Surrender," we've been journeying through Lent, a season of reflection and preparation for the celebration of Jesus' resurrection at Easter. We've been exploring what it means to surrender to God's will and to live a life of worship and sacrifice, following the example of Jesus in his final week of earthly ministry.

During this time, we've been encouraged to engage in practices that draw us closer to God, such as fasting, participating in devotionals, and embracing a season of expectation for what God can do in and through our lives. We've been reminded that true worship is not about doing the minimum required but about living out of an overflow of gratitude and love for God, asking ourselves not "What do I have to do?" but "What can I do to worship God?"

We delved into the story of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive ointment from an alabaster flask, a story that challenges us to consider whether we give God our best or what's left. This woman's act of worship was criticized by the disciples as wasteful, but Jesus defended her, saying she had done a beautiful thing in preparing him for burial. Her sacrifice was a profound act of worship, one that Jesus said would be remembered wherever the gospel is proclaimed.

This story raises the question of what it means to live as a living sacrifice, as the apostle Paul urges us to do. It's about offering our lives to God, not as a duty but as a privilege, to be consumed in service to Jesus. We are called to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel, not to preserve ourselves but to give ourselves away in worship and service.

The woman's act of worship also serves as a reminder that everything we have is not truly ours but God's. We are merely stewards of the resources, time, relationships, and opportunities God has entrusted to us. Jesus taught that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, challenging us to consider whether we are giving Jesus access to every area of our lives.

As we approach Easter, we are reminded that we are on a mission, not a vacation. Our lives are meant to be lived in service to God and others, bringing the hope and love of Jesus to a world in need. We are called to worship God not just with our words but with our lives, demonstrating that there is another way to live and another kingdom to live for.

Key Takeaways:

- True worship is a response to God's love that goes beyond obligation and flows from a heart of gratitude. It is not about the minimum we can offer but the maximum expression of our love for God. This kind of worship is often countercultural and may be misunderstood by others, but it is precious in God's sight. [37:04]

- Living as a sacrifice means continually offering ourselves to God's service, resisting the temptation to step down from the altar of surrender. Our daily choices reflect whether we are living for God's glory or for our own comfort and convenience. The challenge is to remain on the altar, fully devoted to God's purposes. [38:13]

- Stewardship is a central theme of the Christian life. We are not owners but managers of what God has given us. This perspective should shape how we use our resources, time, and talents, recognizing that they are entrusted to us by God for His purposes and glory. [39:47]

- The legacy of our worship has the potential to outlive us and impact the world. The woman's act of anointing Jesus is still spoken of today, demonstrating that acts of worship and sacrifice can have eternal significance. Our worship can leave a lasting imprint on the world when it is done in genuine love and devotion to Jesus. [46:48]

- Our identity in Christ should be the truest thing about us, shaping our actions and interactions with the world. As we worship Jesus, we bring hope to those around us, showing them a different way to live. Our lives are a mission trip, and we are called to live out the gospel wherever we are placed. [51:17]

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Matthew 26:6-13 (ESV)**
> Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

2. **Romans 12:1 (ESV)**
> I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

#### Observation Questions
1. What was the reaction of the disciples to the woman's act of anointing Jesus with the expensive ointment? ([43:30])
2. How did Jesus respond to the disciples' criticism of the woman's act? ([43:44])
3. According to Romans 12:1, what does Paul urge believers to do as an act of spiritual worship?
4. What does Jesus say about the significance of the woman's act of anointing him? ([43:59])

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think the disciples were indignant about the woman's act of anointing Jesus? What does this reveal about their understanding of worship and sacrifice? ([43:30])
2. How does Jesus' defense of the woman’s act challenge our understanding of what is considered wasteful versus what is considered worshipful? ([43:44])
3. In Romans 12:1, Paul talks about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. How does this concept of living sacrifice compare to the woman's act of anointing Jesus?
4. What does it mean to be a steward of the resources, time, and relationships God has given us, as mentioned in the sermon? ([39:51])

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt called to give your best to God. How did you respond, and what was the outcome? ([28:09])
2. The sermon mentioned that true worship is not about doing the minimum required but about living out of an overflow of gratitude and love for God. How can you shift your mindset from "What do I have to do?" to "What can I do to worship God?" in your daily life? ([35:00])
3. Consider the concept of living as a living sacrifice. What are some practical ways you can offer yourself to God's service in your current circumstances? ([37:04])
4. The sermon highlighted the importance of stewardship. Identify one area of your life (resources, time, relationships) where you can improve your stewardship. What specific steps will you take to manage this area better for God's glory? ([39:51])
5. The woman's act of worship left a lasting legacy. What is one act of worship or service you can perform this week that has the potential to impact others and leave a lasting impression? ([46:48])
6. The sermon emphasized that our identity in Christ should be the truest thing about us. How can you live out this identity more fully in your interactions with others this week? ([51:17])
7. Reflect on the idea that our lives are a mission, not a vacation. How can you adopt a mission-oriented mindset in your daily activities and interactions? ([43:03])

Day 1: Worship Beyond Obligation
True worship arises from a heart overflowing with gratitude, not from the bare minimum of religious obligation. It is a personal and often countercultural expression of love and devotion to God. This kind of worship may be misunderstood or even criticized by others, as it goes against the grain of what is considered normal or sufficient. Yet, it is this very nature of worship—extravagant, generous, and wholehearted—that makes it precious in the eyes of the Lord. Worship that is true and authentic is not concerned with what one must do, but rather with what one can do to fully express love for God. It is a response to God's immense love and grace, a desire to give back not just adequately, but abundantly. [37:04]

"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." - John 4:23-24 (ESV)

Reflection: How can you transform your daily acts into expressions of worship that go beyond mere duty to heartfelt offerings to God?

Day 2: The Altar of Daily Surrender
Living as a sacrifice is an ongoing commitment to offer oneself to God's service, resisting the urge to retreat from the altar of surrender. This means making daily choices that reflect a life dedicated to God's glory rather than personal comfort or convenience. The challenge lies in remaining steadfast on the altar, fully devoted to God's purposes, even when it is tempting to step down and prioritize one's own desires. It is about living with the understanding that every moment is an opportunity to demonstrate devotion to God through actions, decisions, and interactions with others. [38:13]

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." - Romans 12:1 (ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you find yourself holding back from surrendering to Jesus? What would surrendering this area to Him actually look like in terms of daily habits?

Day 3: Stewardship of God's Gifts
Stewardship is not merely a part of the Christian life; it is at its very core. Believers are not owners but caretakers of the resources, time, relationships, and opportunities that God has entrusted to them. This perspective of stewardship should influence how one uses all that has been given, recognizing that everything is meant for God's purposes and glory. It is a call to manage these gifts wisely and generously, in a way that honors the Giver and advances His kingdom. [39:47]

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." - 1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)

Reflection: Consider the resources, time, and talents you have been given. How can you manage one of these areas more intentionally this week for God's glory?

Day 4: Eternal Impact of Worship
The legacy of worship extends far beyond the moment it is offered; it has the potential to leave an indelible mark on the world and echo into eternity. Just as the woman's act of anointing Jesus is still remembered and spoken of today, so too can our acts of worship and sacrifice have lasting significance. When worship is rooted in genuine love and devotion to Jesus, it transcends time and can inspire and impact others long after we are gone. [46:48]

"And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God." - Luke 12:8 (ESV)

Reflection: What is one act of worship or sacrifice you can make this week that might have a lasting impact on those around you?

Day 5: Living as Missionaries in Daily Life
Our identity in Christ is the most authentic aspect of who we are, and it should shape every action and interaction we have with the world. As we worship and serve Jesus, we bring hope and demonstrate a different way to live to those around us. Our lives are not meant to be a leisurely vacation but a mission trip, where we are called to actively live out the gospel in our everyday environments. [51:17]

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." - Acts 1:8 (ESV)

Reflection: How can you embody the mission of Christ in your current setting, and what is one practical step you can take today to live out the gospel where you are?

Well, hey, good morning, Menlo Church.

Welcome to our series, The Path of Surrender, that we started a few weeks ago in our sort of season of Lent, where we are preparing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together at Easter.

A special welcome to our Bay Area campuses in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Saratoga. Those of you joining us online, wherever you're watching from today, we're so glad that you have chosen to spend part of your morning and your weekend with us.

If this is your first time joining us, I know that that represents maybe a big risk for you of dipping your toe into the waters of faith. And I just want to say, wow, I'm so thankful that you've chosen to do that.

I hope you will find that this is a community of people who want to know you, who want you to be a part of this community. So no matter what your experience of church has been in the past, Menlo really could be something that God has for you in your present and your future.

Now, before we go any further, I do need to address just kind of an elephant in the room a little bit. We've been in California for a little over a year. And when we got here last year, it was raining a lot, a lot. And everyone said to me, like every campus we would go visit—San Mateo, Mountain View, Saratoga, here in Menlo Park—you'd be like, "Oh, Phil, this is so unusual. It never rains like this."

And then this year, I'm hearing a lot of people say, "Phil, this is so unusual." And I'm not calling you liars, but I do want to know what you think the word unusual means. And if we end up in year three of this next year, I think this now has become usual. So I just needed to get that off of my chest today as we got started.

This series that we're diving back into is really a chance for us to walk alongside Jesus in his final week of earthly ministry on his way to the cross. And if for you, maybe you grew up in a context where the only times that you ever went to church were Christmas and Easter and they were kind of one-day experiences, this entire idea of Lent and a season—these 40 days leading up to Easter—can feel a little disorienting.

But I hope that this has given you a chance to have this maybe greater conversation with God and his people about what God wants to do in and through your life. Maybe for you, that's fasting from something over the course of these 40 days where you're exchanging your appetite for that thing for a deeper appetite in God.

Maybe for you, you're joining us in this devotional that we put together and put on the YouVersion Bible app. I hope you are. But no matter where and how you're engaging in this, I hope it helps Easter to be more than just a day of celebration, but really a season of expectation for what God can do in and through your life as you walk closer to him.

Now, before we get started, I'm going to pray for us. And if you've never been here before, never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. And part of the reason for that comes from a passage that we are going to study together today, that God is worthy of our extravagant and humble worship before him.

So no matter where you are in your own faith process right now, no matter where you would describe your relationship with God or church, would you humble yourself in the quiet of your heart for just a moment as we go to God together?

Let's pray.

God, I am so cognizant of just the different walks of life that walk into this room and campuses all around the Bay Area who log on, and God, they need something from you. They're looking for something. They're longing for something.

And God, would you help us to discover that together? Would you help us to find out who you really are? And because of that, who we really are, that we would live and learn, walk out of this place different because of it.

God, thank you for this time that we have together. Would you use it to shape us and glorify you? It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, February just ended, and it was a little longer thanks to the leap year, but February marks our nation's official Black History Month, and with it, we learn a lot from those who have fought for equality throughout our nation's history from the black community.

As a matter of fact, Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 and escaped it in 1849. Instead of doing something that we would have all understood by simply just beginning a new life away from the one that she had fled, she spent the next decade making 13 trips to Maryland to rescue friends and family.

She would go on to ultimately offer critical support instructions to see more than 700 people freed from slavery along the Underground Railroad. Reflecting on her life, Harriet once said, "And I know that you will see me through."

In the midst of a life and circumstances, personally and as a nation, she showed incredible resolve to fight for her own freedom and for the freedom of others.

Now, while that work of achieving equality for everyone in our nation isn't done, we have made progress because of leaders just like Harriet Tubman who have brought their best into the mess that they found themselves inside of.

The moments of their lives that could feel so intimidating, they kept trusting God through it. Now, I don't know what the obstacles in your life feel like, but I hope that you can take inspiration from a woman who, like all of us, wasn't perfect, and yet God used her to bring real and meaningful change in the world by trusting God with decisions of great weight and even potential risk.

Maybe you feel that today. Maybe you're facing what feels like insurmountable odds. You don't know where to begin. Every direction feels impossible. The challenges of your world and the world feel irreversible, and your best feels like it just won't be enough.

As a matter of fact, if you were honest, you're not even really sure where to start. In the scene that we're going to dive into in Jesus' final week of earthly ministry, we meet a woman who demonstrates incredible poise and trust with her most prized possession.

It feels so countercultural that Jesus' own disciples spoke up to stop it. But it raises this really important question for us that Jesus was basically asking his disciples, which is, does God get your best or what's left?

And it's so easy to justify and rationalize. I immediately want to rationalize and justify when this question surfaces in my own heart. But the story we're about to look at should challenge all of us in new ways, even if it's an old passage you've studied many times before.

Jesus often pushed back against what was normal or even appealing in the society of the day. In a very unique dinner that we're going to enter into, we see when Jesus' meal gets interrupted.

Maybe you can think of a time where you were planning on having this really nice and sweet meal and something or someone changed that. When Greer, our oldest, who is 14 now, was a baby, my parents offered to take Alyssa and me and our young family to dinner.

I selected a nice restaurant, but I didn't realize until we got there with our infant how nice it was. Everyone was really kind, but we were out of place. We were in clothes that were too casual, and we had a baby. So it was kind of the hat trick.

Somewhere between the bread course and the salad course, I was walking around the restaurant to keep Greer calm and not crying, which I'm sure the other guests in the restaurant loved that I was doing, right?

It doesn't take a ton in our lives to disrupt this challenge for us where there's a disconnect between what I expect and what I experience, and I can become very frustrated and disappointed with the disconnect. But that was never the case for Jesus.

Jesus always had important people around him. He always had important things in front of him, and he always made space. Matthew's biography of Jesus' life that we've been walking through over these last few weeks shares the story this way:

"It says, now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table."

Now, it's likely that Jesus was in the area of Bethany for several days in the final week of his earthly ministry, and there's a possibility that something like this scene actually happened multiple times, or at least that the disciples all recorded different details.

But Matthew's account gives us some unique perspective as we figure out how to apply this in our own lives. Even when Jesus voluntarily embraced the limitations of humanity by entering human history to live a perfect life, maintaining his divinity without leveraging it to undermine his humanity, he was still patient and willing to be interrupted.

Isn't that incredible? And I can struggle when my kids wake me up too early. That's the patience of the creator of the universe, the patience of your heavenly father.

See, a terminally ill woman, a father desperate for healing for his dying daughter, exuberant kids, judgmental religious people, entitled followers, and a worshiping woman—Jesus was kind and patient to all of their interruptions.

Here in the days leading up to his arrest, he sits down to have a meal with someone named Simon the leper. And before you wonder, like, is that just how people named their last names, like it was Simon the, and then how bad do your parents have to hate you to make that your last name?

That's not exactly what we see here. Simon had probably been a leper until Jesus healed him. We expect that because you didn't really invite people to your house for dinner if you actively had leprosy. Think, like, peak COVID. You know, you weren't going to have somebody come over to your house.

So this was probably someone that Jesus had actually healed. And, well, this was still his name as the way people knew him because Simon was the most common name for a man in this region at this time.

So it was important for the people reading it at the time to know which Simon they're talking about that he actually exists. For us, it's a little less about the specific person, and it's more about the fact that this Simon the leper was willing to host Jesus for a meal in a week.

Well, there would have been lots of people excited about that. Increasingly, there would have been a lot of people very angry about that, especially the religious leaders.

This meal, like many others, would have likely been in a partially covered courtyard. Think, like, your backyard in California but with no fences. And everybody in the neighborhood could hear that a meal was taking place, and maybe the word had spread throughout the neighborhood that this was this rabbi, Jesus.

Remember that guy that all of the crowd showed up for that incredible entrance into Jerusalem, you know? And so people likely drifted into the outskirts of this meal over the course of the meal.

Simon the leper's probably getting annoyed because he thought, "This is my moment with Jesus. This is my time to be able to have a personal conversation." And while he might have been annoyed, Jesus wasn't.

At one point, as I'm sure the meal is getting more and more crowded, they've run out of plates, a woman comes up with an alabaster flask. This is a container made of precious stones that likely could have only been opened and broken one time.

And inside of it was this ointment that was likely the most valuable thing she had. Oftentimes it would be an heirloom, or it would be used as the dowry for her future husband, and she has broken it open. Some of these were worth up to a year of someone's wages.

And so this was extravagant. This was unthinkable. This was inefficient. There were better things they could have done with that. But she pours it over Jesus' head, and she would have likely finished by anointing Jesus' feet with it.

And Jesus is the creator of the universe, but he did not have clean feet 2,000 years ago around Simon the leper's table. The process that she underwent actually to put this ointment over Jesus mirrored—and Jesus will tell us that in just a minute—it mirrored what people would do to immerse the body of a corpse to prepare it for burial.

They didn't understand the parallel. They didn't understand the connection, but Jesus did. See, depending on how many times something like this has happened to Jesus—and there's some indication that it happened more than once—we aren't entirely sure who this woman in Matthew's account of the story is, but it is a powerful picture of extravagant worship, where she doesn't give God what's left.

She doesn't give God what's convenient. She gives Jesus her best. Her love for Jesus is so profound that this sacrifice that no one asked for, she freely gave. And that's really what true worship is.

It's not saying, "God, what do I have to do?" It's when you and I live out of this overflow of, "God, what can I do in worshiping you?" Maybe you have like a list of questions for God. I have people all the time that will say something like, "Well, when I get to heaven, I have a list of questions. I have things I want to talk to God about."

And I bet that this woman probably had some unanswered questions too, but in the presence of Jesus, it all changed. Maybe she had heard or maybe even seen or perhaps experienced this miracle-working power of Jesus teaching and healing in recent days.

And so she was clearly more interested in this moment of this self-sacrificial act of worship than she was inquisition or accusation that she might have brought in or thought about or still wanted answers from God. She leads with worship.

And keep in mind, she's doing all this, and Jesus hasn't died yet. Jesus hasn't come back from the grave yet. She is worshiping Jesus with her most prized possession for what he had already done and already said, for who he had revealed himself to be already.

The amazing thing for us is that we have Jesus' sacrifice in our history, in our rearview mirror, not our future. Jesus lived this perfect life in your and my place because we can't. He died for us. And then he came back from the grave so that we can turn from our way, believe and receive the gift he's made available, and choose to follow him now and forever, and we could experience forever with him starting now and going on for eternity.

We know all that. She just hoped all that. It's no wonder the apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome with these famous words. Based on all of that, he says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Paul was trying to clarify that just because the sacrificial system of the Jewish people found in the Hebrew scriptures that they had been living out generation after generation after generation, that they had to do in hopes that following the rules would get them to God, where sacrifices that they made were temporary, that sacrifices were still relevant to this early group of Christians, and they are still relevant to you and me as well.

This woman is our prime example of demonstrating this important truth of our faith. See, the difference between the sacrifices of the Hebrew scriptures and our sacrifices is that they sacrificed animals against their will in the hope of temporary forgiveness, but it was all a shadow.

It was a picture of what was to come. We willingly sacrifice things in our own lives out of gratitude for the permanent and perfect sacrifice of Jesus for all people. It was always the setup.

Classic pastor and author Charles Spurgeon puts it like this: "It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men or women in fine preservation, but living sacrifices whose lot is to be consumed. We are to spend and to be spent, not to lay ourselves up in lavender and nurse our flesh."

I don't know about you, but there are plenty of times I can read something like that and go, uh-oh. See, the problem with living sacrifices, when you kill an animal and you lay it on the altar, the animal can't get up. Living sacrifices, we lay ourselves on the altar for God's use of our lives.

We bring our best, but how often do we get up from the altar and walk away? We can decide one day to worship Jesus from a place of gratitude and pour out our lives for him, like this woman did. And the next day, or if we're honest, maybe the next minute, remove ourselves from the altar and go back to the self-seeking priorities that are all around us and actually justifiable.

Maybe you have never worshiped Jesus the way that this woman did. Your worship is always at the edges, always with the extra, always from the margin. Maybe her worship to you feels like it went too far. She gave too much.

But can I share something with you? You have never given Jesus anything that wasn't already his. See, we live in a time and a place where how you can acquire things more and more is the goal, but the teachings of Jesus and the Bible more broadly do not teach the idea that you and I are owners.

It's that we are stewards. We are managers. We are money managers, time managers, relationship managers, career managers, technology managers of God in this world. You will not take any of it with you.

And before you ask, no, I'm not about to take an offering, although I thought about it. But you should know Jesus is so passionate about this in our life because he knows what holds true in our life with how we spend the best of our life.

Jesus says it this way: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." If Jesus doesn't have access to your alabaster flask, to your workplace, to your key relationships, to those classrooms, to that boardroom, to that bank account, to that house, to those possessions, he doesn't have access to your heart.

So the reason that Jesus wants access to that stuff is because he wants access to you, because your life will be fully and finally satisfied only in him. But don't be too hard on yourself.

We're about to see some people who didn't understand this but seemed like they should have. Some people who had a really hard time answering this question, does God get your best or what's left, that should have thought this question is coming.

They had been walking with Jesus for a long time. The woman that we just saw is someone who probably is from Bethany and had maybe seen or heard Jesus from a distance, maybe for as little as just a few days.

But Jesus is traveling with his disciples, a group of men that had been with him every day for three years. And they still needed reminding of what they were really doing. In the next few verses, we see when Jesus reinforces the mission.

Now, I spent the first decade or so in ministry working very closely with students. I love students. I love how following Jesus is not as complicated for them. They have less baggage about their possessions or sunk cost bias of their career or their education.

If they sense God calling them to do something, they are passionately in love with Jesus and they are in. One place that I saw this happen most tangibly was when I would take students on mission trips around the world.

And there are good ways and bad ways to do short-term missions. But I remember one time we took a large group of students to Guatemala. And as we got down to Guatemala, there was this incredible opportunity for students to work alongside teachers and staff at a school there.

Now, early on in the trip, everyone was excited to be there and for the work that they were in the middle of. But as the week wore on, the students who came with an expectation that they were going on a vacation to a new place, they got more and more tired, more and more disillusioned, more and more disappointed, more and more disengaged.

And so about halfway through the week, we had to have sort of a reinforcement conversation where we reminded everybody, "Hey, we are not on vacation. We are on mission."

Students rallied that week, and actually a couple of those students felt called from it to a life of full-time vocational ministry, like doing ministry as their job because God had done something in their life that week. They remembered who they were and why they were there.

But it's easy to forget. It's easy to slip into comfort and to pull ourselves off the altar of self-sacrifice from a place of personal worship and back to the assumption of consumption and the culture of comfort that's all around us.

Jesus' disciples show us the very same thing here. It says, "And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.'"

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. And pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."

The way that Matthew sort of tells this story, what it seems like is happening is that at one point there is this woman who is anointing Jesus from the alabaster flask with this incredible act of extravagant love and worship.

And the disciples are grumbling. They aren't talking to Jesus. They're talking about Jesus. They aren't talking to this woman. They're talking about this woman. As a matter of fact, they're gossiping.

And I don't know about you, but it's kind of reassuring that even Jesus' disciples needed some help with that one, right? They raise a really good point about the perfume, though, right? Maybe some of you have thought about that as you've read a story like this.

Couldn't they have used the money to help the needy around them? Maybe you felt that in church at times. You look around and it feels like things are over the top or unnecessary. And you wonder, "Why don't we just put all of this money into helping the marginalized in the world and in our community?"

Now, Jesus has a couple reasons for it. I'm going to give you one more. Jesus has one answer. He says that he knows the motives of the people talking. John actually describes very uniquely that Judas, who is in charge of the money, his motivation was actually that he just wanted more money that he could sort of pilfer from the coffers of the disciples before he would sell Jesus out to the religious leaders that would eventually get him arrested, convicted, and executed.

So they weren't coming to this with like very pure motives. But there was this kind of problem that happens for them that I think can happen for all of us, which is that self-righteous gossip is often a cover for selfish compromise.

We will often justify our bad behavior, our bad actions, because we'll look at someone that feels like they've gone over the top. I'll question their motives. I'll question the wisdom of that. "Why are they giving that to God? Why are they so over the top about Jesus?"

That's what they were doing, even after walking with Jesus for three years. The second part is we kind of twist sometimes.

But Jesus says that we will always have under-resourced people around us. And so some people will say, "See, that's why we don't really have to do very much in our world, because this is an intractable problem. We actually can't solve the problems of our world."

That's a reality of a broken world. But anytime that someone does that, just I would just say in general, anytime you hear someone quote Jesus in a way that doesn't feel like Jesus, go read what else Jesus said, usually in the same sentence.

Jesus says, "You'll always have them with you." And then he goes on and says, "And you won't always have me with you." So Jesus is saying this is a unique moment.

There's actually this incredible legacy that God is going to create because of her act of worship in the midst of this. Of course, we should have compassion on people who are under-resourced. Of course, we should have compassion on people who are underserved.

Of course, we should care in a world that is broken and hurting. We should bring the compassion and the conviction of Jesus all the time. I would also say that in global history, we have never had a greater philanthropic movement of people to solve the problems of our world as we do in the people that love and follow Jesus.

Never. Not even close. Not a second place. And the way that that happens is that followers of Jesus love and worship Jesus together.

That movement out there doesn't happen without a movement of God in here. And so what is the benefit of this? Well, it's that God would do something in us that he might do something through us that could be so much greater collectively than it is individually.

And is there a tension here? Absolutely. Are there abuses to what can happen to levels of extravagance in church and ministry? Absolutely. That we need to always be aware of.

But I think this idea of how we worship God and grow in God and how we help a hurting world, we don't pick one of those. We bring both of those.

Think about the libraries, the museums, the monuments that exist to honor the legacies and financial generosity of people in our world. How many of them do you even know the name of? How many of them will be there 2,000 years ago?

And this woman with only one year's wage of someone 2,000 years ago, Jesus says every time you talk about the good news of Jesus as you're preparing for Easter, people are going to remember this story and they're going to remember this woman's leadership to demonstrate worship.

And so here we are. We're doing exactly what Jesus predicted 2,000 years ago. He encourages this woman that wherever the gospel gets spread, the good news of Jesus, what he's done for us, that her story is going to get spread too.

This moment of extravagant love, this sacrifice for Jesus. I don't know what the meal they were eating was, what it tasted like. I don't know the fragrance of what this ointment smelled like. I don't know what the disciples were wearing or how long it had been since they had slept.

But I do know one thing. This woman was crying—not like a cute cry. You know, a cute cry, right? Very cute. It was an ugly cry, like over the top. Oh, I'm uncomfortable. Not do you need a tissue? But do you need like a box of tissues? Do you want me to leave the room kind of cry?

And the ugly cry, it's when our emotions have welled up. It's usually about way more than the thing that sort of tipped us over the edge. It's the stuff we've pushed down and in over and over, and now you can't hold it in anymore.

And once the tap has been opened, you can't turn it off. She had probably trapped a lot of pain very deep for a long time as a first-century woman. And here this Jewish carpenter turned rabbi had changed everything.

Maybe even just over the course of a few days when other people had said she didn't matter, couldn't add value, and would never know the life that her heart dreamed of. Jesus, maybe even with just a look, offered a kind of compassion and a vision for a different kingdom that she was welcomed into.

A kingdom with no second-class citizens. The kingdom that God still invites you and me into today. A kingdom where men and women, rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, leaders and followers, skeptics and saints are all invited to join because they are all image bearers of the divine with infinite dignity, value, and worth.

That was true 2,000 years ago. It's true today. Remember, Jesus hasn't died yet. He hasn't risen yet. This was her worship before Easter Sunday.

Can you imagine maybe if she was one of the hundreds of people that interacted with a risen Savior Jesus in his risen body, what her worship would have looked like then? Can you imagine?

Now think about your worship. Not just what it sounds like when you sing, but how it looks when you live. If you decided to follow Jesus, your life is a mission trip. It is not primarily about your comfort. You are on a mission wherever you live, work, learn, and play.

And maybe today you just needed that reminder. That's why you're here. We are all swimming in the waters of cultural compromise. And the assumption of consumption is everywhere around us.

The systems that you are living in will promise you that fulfillment is found on the other side of the next upgrade, the next promotion, the next possession. But that's not actually true. And it's not who you are. It's not what Jesus has called you to.

Who you are in Jesus should be the truest thing about you. And as you worship him, you bring hope to everyone you meet because you show them that there's another way to live and there's another kingdom to live for.

So let's pray. Let's pray that God brings us the same conviction to worship God that he gave to this woman at a dinner party some 2,000 years ago.

Menlo, Easter is not just about a day that we celebrate. It's about this incredible kingdom that we anticipate, that we look for, and that we long to see in our world today.

Would you pray with me?

God, thank you so much. Thank you for this incredible picture of what it means to extravagantly pour out worship to you.

God, whatever our alabaster flask is right now, whatever that thing is that the voice of the disciples from this moment, it's too much, it's over the top, that's irresponsible.

God, would you show us that thing? Would you show us that step? Would you show us that direction? And God, would you give us the awareness of what it looks like to worship you profoundly and deeply with that?

God, there are so many excuses we can make, so many excuses I can make. God, I pray that you would help us to push past those, to see the work that only you can do in our lives and through our lives for a world that desperately needs to know you.

Thank you for the incredible legacy of this woman. I pray that we would honor it in the way we live today. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

1) "But it raises this really important question for us that Jesus was basically asking his disciples, which is, does God get your best or what's left? And it's so easy to justify and rationalize. I immediately want to rationalize and justify when this question surfaces in my own heart." [28:09] (Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

2) "She gives Jesus her best. Her love for Jesus is so profound that this sacrifice that no one asked for, she freely gave. And that's really what true worship is. It's not saying, God, what do I have to do? It's when you and I live out of this overflow of, God, what can I do in worshiping you?" [34:45] (Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

3) "The amazing thing for us is that we have Jesus' sacrifice in our history, in our rear view mirror, not our future. Jesus lived this perfect life in your and my place because we can't. He died for us. And then he came back from the grave so that we can turn from our way, believe and receive the gift he's made available and choose to follow him now and forever, and we could experience forever with him starting now and going on for eternity." [36:13] (Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

4) "We are to spend and to be spent, not to lay ourselves up in lavender and nurse our flesh. Living sacrifices, we lay ourselves on the altar for God's use of our lives. We bring our best, but how often do we get up from the altar and walk away?" [38:13] (Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

5) "You have never given Jesus anything that wasn't already his. See, we live in a time and a place where how you can acquire things more and more is the goal, but the teachings of Jesus and the Bible more broadly do not teach the idea that you and I are owners. It's that we are stewards." [39:26] (Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

6) "And the way that that happens is that followers of Jesus love and worship Jesus together. That that movement out there doesn't happen without a movement of God in here. And so what is the benefit of this? Well, it's that God would do something in us that he might do something through us that could be so much greater collectively than it is individually." [47:33] (Download clip | Download cropped clip | Download captioned clip)

7) "If you decided to follow Jesus, your life is a mission trip. It is not primarily about your comfort. You are on a mission wherever you live, work, learn and play. And maybe today you just needed that reminder. That's why you're here." [51:17] (Download clip | Download cropped clip | Download captioned clip)

8) "Who you are in Jesus should be the truest thing about you. And as you worship him, you bring hope to everyone you meet because you show them that there's another way to live and there's another kingdom to live for." [52:03] (Download clip | Download cropped clip | Crop + Caption)