Spent 1977

From John chapter 12, starting at verse 20. Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip who was from Bethsaida, which was a fairly heavily Greek population in Galilee and said to him, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew and Andrew went with Philip and they told Jesus. And this desire of the Gentile Greek people to see Jesus was a signal to him that the end had now come. And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me where I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And yet, in many ways, we often find ourselves much more like the grain of wheat, which remains on the shelf and preserves itself, refusing to fall into the ground and die. It sits up there on the shelf, gets older and moldier, conserves its energy, keeps itself safe because it's afraid to go down into that ground, afraid to spend itself.

And why do we conserve our energies like this? What are we saving ourselves for so we can get older and still remain alone? Granted, there are all kinds of spent lives at the bottom of the ditch, lives that have wasted themselves on all kinds of things. For instance, there are those who have spent their lives in dissipation. They have given themselves up to a lust or to a passion or to a thirst which has consumed them so that what's left of their wasted bodies can think of nothing else than that next drink or that next fix or that next orgy, until at last even that flame of desire and passion burns into ash and there's nothing left.

And there are those also who have spent themselves on a delusion that they thought was true. They were going to bring in the classless society of the new age. They were going to establish a new kind of church.

George decided not to come. We'll pray for him. They were going to bring in the new order of some kind.

And there are people who will just spend themselves. No sacrifice is too great. No price is too high to pay.

No suffering is too much. And then one day they wake up and discover that they have spent themselves on an ideology that's false. They've given themselves over to something that just isn't real and that this movement that they're in is more corrupt than the most corrupt enemy they were fighting all their lives.

There are others who have spent themselves on an idol. Here's a man who spends his whole life, in a way, worshipping his wife as if his whole life draws its meaning from her. And then one day she up and leaves him.

Or a woman who makes an idol out of her child, lives for that child, does anything for that child, just does scrub floors, go to any length so that he can have this or anything that he wants. And then one day the child wakes up and tears himself out of her clutches and starts living a life of his own. And she's left without anything.

Sooner or later, whatever idol it is that we live for is going to be smashed and we're going to end up with nothing. And then there are those who have spent themselves on a driving ambition for riches or fame or power or lands or whatever it may be. And again, nothing is too much to do.

No sacrifice is too great to make. They'll go anywhere, they'll do anything just to achieve this goal. Then when they achieve the goal, they set a new goal and they keep going like this until finally they're burnt out.

And then all they can do anymore is sit at their card table, looking through scrapbooks of their past achievements while other people swim in their swimming pool and play golf on their private golf course. And we pat ourselves on the back or whatever and say, at least, praise God, we haven't spent ourselves on such foolishness as those people. Here we are.

We're still intact. We still pretty much have our health. We're in pretty good shape.

We're unspent. And then one day we wake up to the shattering realization that the most wasted life of all is a life that is unspent. If we come to the end of our days, never, never having sunk ourselves, body, soul and spirit into anything.

Our lives are more empty and pointless than the most hopeless drunk that ever lived or the most deluded revolutionary that ever tried to hijack a plane, at least they sank themselves into something unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. And when it falls into the ground and dies, it's spending itself, pouring itself out. That's exactly what Jesus did.

And this is precisely what he's calling us to do. He who loves his life, loses it. He who hates his life in this world will save it for eternal life.

Jesus is calling us to spend ourselves, pour ourselves out on the one thing that really matters. The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.

When he sells all that he has to buy the field, he's spending himself, pouring himself out. We will never taste the life which God has for us so long as we're measuring. Every ounce that we give to it to make sure we get at least an ounce or maybe an ounce and a half to two ounces back.

When Mary, in that same 12th chapter of John, takes the ointment worth 300 denarii, a year's wages. And anoints Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair. She wasn't measuring, she was pouring out the best that she has.

Oh, we pour out the best that we have on ourselves. We're glad to sacrifice to achieve things for ourselves. Yeah, but Mary's pouring this out on Jesus extravagantly.

And Mary's life is in that ointment. Just as the ointment is going for Jesus, so does Mary's life go for Jesus. And as it goes for Jesus, it also, her life, gives off an aroma just like the fragrance that filled that room when she anointed Jesus' feet.

Now, if we were in the middle of severe persecution right now and every Sunday when we gathered together, there would be four or five of us gone, sent off to prison or having ourselves executed for our faith. Then it would be easier for us to grasp what it means to spend ourselves. If we realize that before the end of this summer, we would be having to make the decision that would cost us everything.

That we're going to die and out of our death is going to come life for countless others. Then it would be easier to grasp what it means. And one day, indeed, we are going to, no doubt, have to live that kind of life and go through that kind of death.

But what do we do in the meantime? We're going to sit around and wait for the persecution. Surely we need to learn what it means to spend ourselves right now, pour ourselves out, give ourselves to something. If we are pouring ourselves out now when things are as they are, we'll never have it in us to pour ourselves out when the persecution comes.

For instance. Questions like this. Am I spending myself in prayer or when it comes to prayer, am I conserving my strength for other things? And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him.

When he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.

And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to his disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow.

And he said to them, why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. So here's a picture of Jesus sweating blood in prayer while his disciples sleep. And again and again, we say to ourselves, oh, my prayer life just isn't what it should be.

I just don't have that joy in prayer. Nothing seems to happen. I don't know what to pray for.

As if it's God's fault. What are you putting into it? A prayer life is like a pool of cold water. Well, maybe you feel like jumping in right now, but you know what we usually do, we say that and then we get to the pool and we dip our toe in.

It's cold. You know, we come back, you know, I think I'll try to pray, you know, try it again. Oh, yeah, that's wonderful.

I had a wonderful prayer time with the Lord, you know, but nothing ever seems to happen until you plunge in with everything you've got and sink yourself in that pool. When we spend something in prayer, absolutely, God will send his spirit who will teach us to pray and quicken us in prayer and our prayers will begin to become light. Am I spending myself in the worship of God or am I conserving my strength for other things? Worship of God, why should that take strength? And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night.

They never cease to sing. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come. Oh, yeah, but they're supernatural beings.

They never get tired. Nothing to it for them. What about an 84 year old woman? And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Faneuil of the tribe of Asher.

She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity and as a widow till she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming in at that very hour. She gave thanks to God and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Was Anna wasting her strength? Worshiping God with fasting and prayer night and day. Were these four creatures wasting eternity, doing nothing but saying, holy, holy, holy? They were spending themselves in the most meaningful possible way. Can we really call it worship when it doesn't cost us any strength? When we're too tired even to lift up our voices and sing, we can't summon up enough strength to concentrate on the words that we're singing or what somebody else is saying or praying or singing.

If we don't have the strength to really think and really put something of ourselves into it when we say glory be to God on high and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men, we praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee. If we don't put something into it, how can that be called worship? Am I spending myself in the pursuit of a living word from God, or am I saving my strength for other things? And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister under a minister under Candacy, the queen of the Ethiopians in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot. He was reading the prophet Isaiah and the spirit came to Philip and said, go up and join this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I understand unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now, consider what this cost this Ethiopian nobleman, this minister of the government of Ethiopia. Think of the time it took him years to learn the Hebrew language so he could read these Hebrew scriptures.

They didn't have it translated. There was no Ethiopian Bible Society. Then this man travels hundreds of miles to go to Jerusalem and get some more.

Then he spends who knows how much money to buy one of those handwritten scrolls. There were no printing presses. Of the book of Isaiah, that thing had to be done by hand.

It took time. And now here he is in this chariot on his way home again, struggling to figure out what God is telling him in this. We got it in English.

We even have it in modern translation. So you don't have to worry about these endows got Bible studies all over town. Oh, but I don't get anything out of the Bible.

I get bored when I read the Bible. God never seems to talk to me. How desperate are you to hear a word from God when you're desperate enough to spend yourself in the pursuit of a word from God? God will speak just as surely as he spoke to the Ethiopian.

Am I spending myself in the service of Jesus? Or am I conserving my energies for other things? If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there shall my servant be also. What's Jesus doing constantly pouring himself out? Seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel, spending himself bringing good news to the poor, deliverance to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, laying down his life for people who have absolutely nothing to offer him except their desperate need of God's mercy.

And he says, if we're going to serve him, we're going to be there. With him doing the same. And again and again, we say, oh, if only God would show me what my ministry is.

And by ministry, we so often think of somebody standing up in front of crowds of people, somebody with a radio, you know, all of some kind of great big ministry. But that's not what God means by a ministry. A ministry is where we are now.

All we have to do is open our eyes and look around us at the harrowing, troubled, discouraged people that we have to do with now every day. And when we see them, we'll also see Jesus in their midst, beckoning us to come with him and minister to them the forgiveness of the living God. One day soon.

We will each of us give an account to God. For what we did with our lives. Sure, we're saved by grace.

I'm not denying that. But what are you doing with the life that's been saved by grace? Are you spending it or are you wrapping it up in an action and tucking it away to keep it safe, conserving it? In whose name are you spending it? To whose glory? Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

He who loves his life loses it. And he who hates his life in this world keeps it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me.

And where I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me. The father will honor him, the world won't honor him, but the father will.

What more do you want? Let's pray. Oh, Lord, how we're suffering from the heat. And from all our problems, Lord, how it bothers us that to be inconvenienced in the slightest.

And what a production we make out of every costly thing. We just pray, Lord, that you would help us even today by your Holy Spirit. To freely and joyfully and gladly, without even seeing the cost, pour ourselves out as Mary did that ointment upon your feet.

And deliver us from this, this grudging, self-conscious, self-centered, miserly. Self-glorified Christianity, set us free from ourselves and help us, Lord God, now even to abandon ourselves to the earth of your presence and to die in that earth. That fruit may come in Jesus name.

Amen.