Worship, Part 2 (Job, Marys)

Book of Job chapter 1. First of all, Job chapter 1. Now I was supposed to try to cover this last night, but I didn't quite get to Job, so I want to make a few comments about Job in relation to trial and worship before looking at two women in the New Testament who responded to the issue of death concerning the Lord Jesus and his death, especially in worship. Job chapter 1 and verse 1 says, There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed or turned away from evil. Now we have the presentation of Satan before the presence of the Lord in verse 7 and it says in verse 8, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou, hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands.

His substance is increased in the land, but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Now you may be familiar enough with the story, I'm not going to take the time to read all the details of it, but the Lord removes the protection and allows Satan to assault his servant Job. And as a consequence there is a series of tragedies that occur and they seem to just fall like one step after another step.

It seems like it happened all in one day, whether it was literally one day or not, it would seem like it was. At the end of it all, as messenger after messenger comes home and tells him that the camels are gone, the sheep are gone, the servants are destroyed, your sons and daughters have been destroyed, and we have the response of Job in verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither.

The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Now if that wasn't enough, there's another confrontation between the Lord and Satan, and Satan ups the ante and says, sure, anyone will trade off his life for everything else, but touch his life, touch his health, and again he says he'll curse you to your face.

So that's really the challenge that is given to us here. Now I was mentioning last night that the emphasis with Abraham was this term, my friend. Abraham was called the friend of God.

The emphasis that you have with Job is my servant Job, my servant Job. Now it might be a good question just to ask ourselves, how far could the Lord trust us? What could he put into our hands and trust that we would serve his interests ahead of ours, that we would really recognize God in this way? Now it seemed that Job had lots of incentive to serve God. God had blessed him.

God had made him prosperous. Whether he was actually a king or not is not known, but he certainly was like a king. He had tremendous power and influence in the region that he lived in, and he must have had a tremendous business.

All the camels, all the sheep, all the cattle that he had, he must have had a tremendous financial empire, and yet it was all wiped out in a moment, and then his family wiped out, and yet we have this amazing response that he bows down, he falls on his face before God, and he worships, and he makes this wonderful acknowledgement that the Lord gave it to me, and the Lord has taken it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I want you to think about an expression that is found here, and it's repeated, one that fears God and turns away from evil.

Now I didn't draw attention to it last night in the meeting, but when the angel spoke to Abraham and stopped him from plunging the knife into his son, he says, now I know that you fear God, that you fear God. And again that's picked up here in Job as the character of Job. This is what defined Job, was that he feared God.

Now I want to just make this connection between fearing God and worship, and this really comes from the temptation of the Lord in the wilderness, because when the Lord answered the challenge of Satan, as he took him up to that high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth, all the glory of the kingdoms of the world, and he says, I'll give you everything if you will fall down and worship me. And the Lord, in his response to him, he says, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And you know that in each of the Lord's responses to the devil, he is quoting from the book of Deuteronomy.

But if you go back to Deuteronomy and try to find that quotation, there are actually two places where it could have been drawn from. But when you read it, it says, thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him shalt thou serve. And so it's equated together.

It's made as being virtually synonymous, to fear God, to worship him. And I want to just draw attention to that. That's something that I had never ever thought of or noticed in looking at the idea of worship, is to recognize that the concept of fearing the Lord is virtually identical with the concept of worshiping God.

And I want you to think about what it really means. Now, as we think about this passage, what is it that Job is really saying? Now, if somebody, just an ordinary person, gave you something, and then, you know, five years later, they come back to you and say, I want that back. What would you say to them? Well, you might say, well, did you give it to me? You said you gave it to me.

Now, why are you asking it back? I mean, if you're bold enough. It would depend on the relationship, wouldn't it? Why is it different with God? Why did Job acknowledge a difference than just as an ordinary person having given him something, and then demanding it back? Well, this is what is so critical for us to understand. Everything belongs to God as an absolute possession.

Anything that we have is actually ours as a stewardship, not as an absolute possession. Now, we get pretty possessive about what we have, especially if somebody misuses it, or it's threatened. And we might fight over things.

This is mine. Don't touch it. But there's nothing that we have, including our families, whatever we may think is ours, it belongs to God, ultimately.

And it is ours as a stewardship. It is entrusted to us. It is responsibility for everything we have to serve God with it.

Because it's actually His. He created it. He formed it.

He granted to us the opportunity to use it, to possess it. But it's actually His. That is part of the glory that belongs to God.

Everything is His. And so Job, and personally, I don't believe that Job just twigged on to this revelation in this moment. He didn't just say, oh, now I understand.

It was only mine as a stewardship. I believe, and if you go especially through the book of Job to chapter 31, where Job gives his final defense of his own integrity, it's very clear when you come to those final closing words of Job, that he had long ago, in the days of his blessing and prosperity and happiness, when he was surrounded with goodness, he had recognized this is all the Lord's that has been graciously given to me. Because he had served God when his hands were full of blessing, full of prosperity, full of family blessing.

He had everything that could occupy him, could hold his attention and his interest and concern, but he served God with it. So he had acknowledged God in days that were happy. And so he was just continuing on the same reality, same integrity of life, when God allowed everything to be wiped out.

Now, you might say that, yeah, but it really wasn't God that did this. It was Satan. Yes, that's true.

But there are many things in life, just as with Job, I don't know when he ever was given to understand Satan's role in this whole question. But he didn't have to know that. Because ultimately, God is sovereign.

And he was willing to deal with God about whatever happened to him. And we also must wrestle with that reality. That's part of the challenge of the book of Job.

Now, I'm going to have to move from this. But so just bringing together worship and the fear of the Lord, they both come together in this recognition. It is acknowledging God as first and holding that priority of claim and ownership.

To him belongs everything that I am and everything that I have. And so to truly acknowledge God as he is, and to be controlled by that is to fear the Lord. Now, do you remember how the story ends? Well, the last chapter tells us that when Job prayed for his miserable friends, those miserable comforters that almost put him over the edge, when he prayed for them, the Lord turned the captivity of Job, and he blessed him with twice as much as he had before.

With one exception, he had exactly the same number of children born to him a second time. And if there's any question as to why he doubled everything else but not his family, the answer would be that those children were not finally lost. They were with the Lord.

They were God's, in God's hands. And in eternity, the blessing will be complete. He will receive double.

Now, I don't know if that sounds like a fair enough equation for you, that if God tears from you what would rightfully be yours and belong to you, he must have a pretty good reason for it. And in the enduring of the trial and clinging to trusting God, and there's one little expression in the book of Job, I didn't look up exactly where it is, but Job makes this declaration that is so beautiful to think of. He says, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

And incidentally, Job himself confronting death, he actually longed for death because his condition was such a misery. He longed for escape. But at the same time, he expressed his confidence that he would be raised from the dead.

That in a day in the future, he would stand in his body and he would see God. And so yes, Job looked beyond this life and he saw into eternity and he trusted in the God who has eternity ahead for us. Now, let's go quickly to the Gospel of John.

And we're going to look first of all in John chapter 11. And again, there's a lot that could be read in this chapter. The worship that I'm thinking of is really found in John chapter 12, but it's all based on what happens in John chapter 11.

And I want to think now of the devotion of two women facing the death of the Lord. Now, the setting in John chapter 11, again, is of a sickness. Verse one, Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sister sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. And then he starts out to visit them.

And he makes an interesting statement in verse 11, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Now, the disciples thought that he was just talking about having a rest, but he was talking about death. Verse 14, Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the attempt you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. And when they arrived, verse 17, they found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

I want to make a few comments about this until before we get into the story of Martha and Mary. Following just after chapter 10, which is the shepherd chapter, I think it's very significant that this chapter follows John chapter 10. And this would be a very interesting connection to think about and to explore.

The Lord has just declared in John chapter 10, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And then chapter 11, we have a sample of this shepherd care, and it doesn't look too good on the surface, does it? He lets one of the sheep die.

He doesn't respond in time. And it seems like something is really badly wrong here. And so again, we're confronted with this paradox of the reality that what happens in this life does not always fit comfortably with what it seems is implied in the promises of God.

And the faithfulness of God to care for us, and to preserve us, to protect us, to bless us. And yet it says he loved them. I want to focus on two statements that I read, two reasons that he gives for permitting this to take place.

The first one is given in verse four, and I'll try to explain why he says what he says here. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby. And then verse 14, I'm glad for your sakes that it was not there, to the intent you may believe.

And that's brought again together in verse 40, at the grave, at the tomb, when Martha protests opening up the sepulcher because of the condition of the body. And the Lord makes a statement. Verse 40, Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou would believe thou should see the glory of God.

So we have believing and glory. Now let me ask you this question. Is the glory of God a big enough reason for you to suffer? Would you be willing to suffer if God somehow was glorified through it? Would that seem worthwhile? Or if somebody's faith in God was either strengthened, or somebody brought to faith in the Lord as Savior.

If that faith was created through the experience that you have to go through, would you consider that worthwhile? Would that be an adequate justification for you to be put through this kind of a circumstance? Well, that's the big question that's raised and answered in this chapter. And again, this is where we see the reality of what worship really means. It is being willing to be devoted to the glory of God.

Even if it costs us everything. That's worship. So we have to think about what our lives really mean.

Or is it just that God is all-powerful? He can do whatever he wants with us. He can use us like the commander in the army. You can send the troops out, and if half of them perish, they perish.

I'll still accomplish my goal. Is that what this is all about? Well, we do say that we're in the Lord's army, all right. And there is a war going on.

And in the combat, in the conflict between good and evil, God and Satan, there is a cost. And we may be used up. Our lives may be used up.

That may be part of the cost of his accomplishment. And that is certainly true. But again, there's another page to this story.

And that is what has to be brought into perspective in all of these stories. Because you could look at this and say, okay, if Lazarus has to die so that God can be shown to be powerful, well, does that sound worthwhile? Does that sound right? So everything that we believe about God is brought into a sharp focus in a passage like this. And I want to suggest to you that this story should be very, very important to each one of us, because every one of us are going to have this life story.

The only difference is that this was compressed into a week. Now, I don't know how long he was sick. But picking up the details of the last few days, think of all the issues that would be at stake.

These sisters are watching their brother get sick, get very ill. And they send out this urgent request to the Lord because they believe that he could help them. He can change this.

And is that not true? In our faith, we pray to the Lord in these kinds of trials because we believe that the Lord can change it. And it's right to believe that. And it pleases the Lord many times to show his mercy.

Yes, he does heal. He recovers from sickness. He answers the cry of his people.

He shows his compassion. He shows his faithfulness. But until the Lord comes, there's going to be a time when those prayers are not answered.

And that loved one dies. And we are left to struggle with this reality. We have prayed to the living God who has power over suffering, sickness, and death.

He could have, but he didn't. And we have to accept that reality. We have to wrestle with that in our faith.

Now, the Lord could have healed him from a distance. Those messengers, when they arrived, could have gone back with the news that the Lord has said he's going to be walking by the time we get back home. The Lord did that on other occasions.

And in fact, the message that he sent back would have sounded so hopeful. This sickness is not unto death. Now, what would you take from that? I'm sure every one of us would have said, it's going to be all right.

It's going to be okay. And actually, it was okay. But just afterwards.

And what we have to recognize that this story is really bringing before us, while it's similar to the lesson of Abraham, of Job, it really brings in this wonderful reality. We are dealing with the one who has the power over death. Even though death seems so final to us, and it's so hard to watch a loved one dying, to see that breakdown of health, to see them come under that struggle and to be taken in death.

It's only a little time. And that is going to be erased. And we are going to, with our eyes, see the glory of God in resurrection.

We are going to watch the power of God and recover out from death itself, that beloved one, that one who died in faith, trusting in the Lord. And so this chapter is bringing these great realities, confronting them to us. Now, I want to notice Martha and Mary here, because there is a difference.

And usually, usually we always give Mary the higher marks, don't we? She's the one that usually shines as the more spiritual one, at least we would think so, between Martha and Mary. But in this incident, it's Martha who has the better spiritual understanding and faith than Mary does. And it's reflected in the way the interaction happens between the Lord and each of them.

Martha, verse 20, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

But I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. Now, I don't know if Martha was complaining or not. You would have to have heard the tone of her voice to know whether she was accusing the Lord or just stating a fact.

In either case, she was definitely expressing a tremendous faith in the Lord. Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. She obviously had confidence that the Lord could have and would have brought her brother out from the sickness.

But she expresses a confidence that looks through death to resurrection. Even now, even now, whatever you will ask of God, God will give it to you. Now, that's faith, isn't it? Her brother's just died, and she is still confident the Lord could raise him from the dead.

Now, that's a tremendous, tremendous faith for her to express. Now, the Lord responds by saying, your brother is going to rise again. Now, again, I don't know exactly what's behind the words as they're given back and forth.

When she acknowledges the truth of a resurrection, the faith of God's faithful people, the belief that there is a kingdom age when the dead, the righteous dead, will arise and shine in the kingdom of God. That comes from Daniel chapter 12. That hope is a wonderful hope.

Now, whatever she meant by saying that, the Lord brings it right in front of her, and he says, I'm the resurrection. I am the resurrection. Now, I'm sure that if that doesn't shock you or make you have goosebumps, you haven't really thought about it.

Here is a man standing in front of another person talking about someone who has just died, and he's saying, I'm the resurrection. I am the one with the power to bring about this ultimate hope of humanity, deliverance from death. Now, I've heard many attempts at explaining what the Lord meant in the words that follow.

I'm going to suggest to you that sometimes in our attempts to make up for an awkward statement, we sometimes misrepresent what he really says. I take it very literally that he means exactly what he says, and I'll explain why. He says, I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. We don't have trouble with that. We can accept that for today.

It's valid. Even if someone has died who believes in Christ, he's going to live again. No problem with that.

But the next one is where the difficulty comes. Verse 26, and whosoever lives is living and believes in me shall never die. And that's a very, very strong word, never.

It means not to the ages to come. Never. I'll never die.

Now, that gives us a bit more trouble. Sometimes we change what we think death is referring to here and so on. I think there's a very simple explanation for why it means exactly what he says, and it's simply this.

The Lord Jesus came announcing the kingdom of God. That kingdom, as I've mentioned, includes the promise of deliverance from death and a kingdom where the creation is going to come into the glory of the redeeming Savior God. And way back in Isaiah, the promise is made that death is going to be swallowed up in victory.

And they're going to say, this is our God. We have waited for him. We have waited for him.

He's here. He's standing among his people. He has proclaimed the kingdom.

He has all the power, all the authority, all the capability of bringing this glorious kingdom to mankind right now. And that generation could have experienced that day of liberation that the world is still waiting for. I think of this every time I go to a funeral.

And I think about it, we would say it's hypothetical now, but the last 2,000 years in one sense have been unnecessary. All the grief, the sorrow, the death, the cemeteries, it doesn't, it didn't have to be because the liberator was here with the authority, the right to redeem mankind. But he was rejected.

And that promise has been postponed until he comes again in all his power. And when he comes, death will flee. And every generation, every generation of Christians that has lived from that day till now has had the same potential.

Because the Lord could have come in any generation up till this moment, and he could come in our generation. And if the Lord comes in our generation, we will be the ones who will see the glory of this astounding reality, that the one who possesses the very power over life and death, stepping into this creation and delivering it, bringing it out of what we think now is normal. That's what he's declaring.

And Martha shows that she understands exactly what he means, because she links it with the Christ. She says, yea, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. So she expresses her belief that when the Christ is here, this promise is going to be fulfilled.

It's a wonder we don't pray more earnestly for the Lord to come. To yearn for this day when we'll never have to follow a casket to the grave again. To be able to know the power of the Lord as the resurrection and the life.

But it's interesting that there's a great contrast when he meets with Mary. Mary was still there when Martha says, the Master has come and calls for you. Verse 29, as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him.

Now, Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. Verse 32, then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and said, where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

And Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. And some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.

It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Now, notice the contrast with Mary. Now, there's one slight difference.

If you just read it in our King James Bible, it sounds exactly the same, what Martha says and what Mary says. But apparently there's a slight difference in the word that is used for died. Now, again, it's kind of hard to make much of a distinction between dead and dead.

But the word that Mary uses means to die utterly. And we would say to perish. And so while in Martha's consciousness there remains this glimmer of hope that was obviously still within her heart, Mary was not seeing that glimmer of hope.

He just said he's gone. He's perished. He's died.

And you notice that the Lord doesn't reason with her. He doesn't reprove her. He doesn't even try to enlighten her.

He just sympathetically enters into the moment of her grief. And I take an important lesson here. I'm sure we've all felt the awkwardness of trying to comfort someone who's mourning.

And if you don't know what to say, you might as well not say. Just be there. Just convey your care.

It's important to be sensitive to what state the person is in. Martha was able to be drawn to the wonder of resurrection. Mary, he enters into the anguish of the moment, the reality of this grief, of this loss.

And he weeps. And he's troubled. And he's groaning despite the fact that he's about to change it all.

And I don't think there's any playing or theatrics in what he's doing. But rather, he is sympathetically entering into the groaning of his creature. And I would go to Romans chapter 8, where we have this subject developed of the groaning creation, the bondage of corruption, the burden that is upon every human being.

And even we ourselves groaning within ourselves. And the irony of that passage is that while on one hand, it's like the death groaning, on the other hand, it is implied that it is birth pang groaning. Now, my father passed away just in November.

And my two brothers and I had the privilege of being with him the last few days. And the last 24 hours was one thing that was difficult to watch or to listen to was his groaning. His breathing was very sketchy.

He would stop breathing for 15 seconds, 20 seconds, up to 30 seconds at a time. And then when he would start breathing again, there would be this groaning that was happening. And we weren't able to tell, the nurses couldn't tell whether it was pain, what really it was.

But it was a groaning that you could hear down the hallway from the room. And it's not very pleasant to be there feeling completely helpless to change it, to alleviate it. It didn't seem to make much difference whatever pain medication was given and so on.

And it very much drew my mind to Romans chapter 8, that there is a true groaning. There's an agony of this struggle, this death struggle. And we're helpless.

We can't change it. And the Lord sympathetically felt that groaning. Have you ever thought of who he was groaning for here? He was groaning for Mary and Martha, but he was also groaning for us.

All of us who go through these experiences, all of us who face death. And he may have been groaning in anticipation of Calvary, because he knew what he was going to have to go through. To not only enter death itself personally, but to face the even deeper anguish of bearing judgment in that groaning for us.

He was going to pay that ultimate cost. And I want to say this very carefully because many of us have been blessed with having saved relatives. And as hard as it is to go through these kind of experiences with a loved one that is a Christian, there are some of you, no doubt, who have had to experience watching a loved one die who is not saved.

And that is an anguish that must be extremely difficult to find any comfort in. Because all of the things that we instinctively cling to as Christians, we know isn't there. I want to just make this suggestion that the Lord understands that as well.

And he could have been groaning for all of those who not only die, but who perish utterly. Using the term that Mary used, those who are lost forever, that he came to rescue. And would be willing to deliver them and to give them eternal life, but they have not responded to his grace.

What a groaning, what a weeping that is associated with that. And so the Lord enters into the experience that we must face until he comes. And then in those moments that follow, he manifests this glory that must have caused such a transformation in the heart and mind of Mary and Martha.

Now my time is almost gone, so I'm going to have to just go quickly to the worship that follows this. But could we appreciate this much? That as the Lord in his divine purposes has, you might say, if we can use the term, delayed his coming, delayed this emancipation, this liberation. And he's still letting his saints die generation after generation.

There is going to be a greater glory manifested in bringing those who have died out of death into resurrection than if he had prevented it in the first place. Now, we all appreciate medical help, and sometimes we talk about miracle cures and doctors who, by their skill, have saved somebody's life. And it's wonderful, it's thrilling.

But we all know there's a difference of saving someone from dying and saving someone out of death. There is no skill, there is no wisdom, there is no knowledge, naturally speaking, that is capable of delivering from death. And so this, you might call it this ultimate glory of God, is going to be manifested in resurrection, and that is what is given to us so beautifully in this passage.

Now, just to notice chapter 12. I don't know how long afterwards this is, it could be a few months that the Lord again comes to Bethany. And it says that, verse 2, there they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone, against the day of my burying hath she kept this, for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always.

Now, this is a beautiful picture. A beautiful picture of communion, of service, and worship. The things that happen in assembly life.

They made him a supper, a celebration, in honor of the one who had brought such joy into their family. Could you tell me what was the true cost of Mary's worship? I think this miserable act of Judas, of drawing attention to the monetary price, putting a price tag on her worship, has distracted us from the true cost. Now, it was worth a lot of money, but it just says it was very costly.

Very costly. It has been estimated that this was about a year's worth of wages. Now, whatever that means to you today, to see something costing a year's worth of wages poured out in a few moments, that would be rather remarkable.

And you would either think this is a very special occasion, or this is a tremendous waste. Think of all the good it could have done, and it's just being poured out like this. But you know, that really was not the true cost.

The true cost of her worship was chapter 11. What she experienced in seeing her brother die, that was the cost that brought her to worship the Lord in this way. Because through that experience of seeing her brother die and be raised out of death, she grasped the revelation that the Lord had been giving over and over to the disciples, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die, but I'm going to be raised out of death. And she, in her intelligent worship, in her intelligent appreciation, she acted ahead of time to prepare his body for the burial. So her worship was a mingling of appreciation for what he had done for them, and her understanding of what the Lord was going to do in dying and being raised from the dead.

Now, my time is gone for sure. Now, what's the contrast with Mary Magdalene? Well, if you look carefully at it, her devotion was at least equal to Mary's, Mary of Bethany, but her understanding was not. Hers is the devotion of someone who does not understand why it's happening.

But it's beautiful to think of her at Calvary, John chapter 19 verse 25, it says, Now there stood by the cross of his mother, and it speaks about the others, and then Mary Magdalene. When the Lord is taken out to the sepulcher and the burial takes place, and everybody goes home, there's Mary Magdalene and the other sitting by the sepulcher. She's the first one to the sepulcher on the resurrection morning, and she is the first one that the Lord reveals himself to.

Her devotion is undeniable, and the Lord rewards it with the unveiling of his glory. And yet, her attempts in preparing the spices, the ointments for the burial, was in vain. It wasn't needed.

And even at the sepulcher, in her weeping, she was even weeping with the open sepulcher, the empty tomb in front of her, and she did not understand its meaning. And so, yes, there can be misguided service. There can be unnecessary tears.

Thankfully, her devotion is to be appreciated, and the Lord recognized it by revealing himself to her. And it's nice to see in Matthew 28, she worshiped him at his feet. May the Lord grant to us to see the preciousness and the power of our Savior, and to recognize that whatever he permits in our lives, there will be a purpose for his glory.

There will be a purpose for faith to be directed towards him in salvation, or the faith of God's people to be strengthened. Those are the goals. Those are the purposes that he has that are considered adequate to use us in these costly ways.

May God grant us to appreciate it. Let's pray. Our Father, we commit ourselves to thee, and we pray that as we think about the reality of worship and of what thou art worthy of, we would come to this recognition that there is no cost that is too great to bear in order to glorify thee.

For in glorifying thee, there is the deepest blessing and the greatest eternal value that is achieved. And just as thou did allow thy son to be taken, to be crucified, and in the purposes of God, that human wickedness was turned into the very sacrifice of the cross by which reconciliation has been made and eternal redemption obtained. And so we would glorify thee and seek to honor thy name and to maintain our confidence in the varying circumstances of life.

We pray that thou would grant us to have this vision of being able to see beyond death and its power, to be able to lay hold of the reality that we truly are in the hands of the Good Shepherd. And what he has done at Calvary has changed forever what death means for us. And just as for Lazarus, it truly was just a sleep, a momentary state which was changed.

Our Father, we would recognize this that for every Christian who dies, it is only a temporary sleep. Our Father, we pray that the day will come soon when we will see thy glory, thy majesty, thy redeeming power seen in this wonderful way. We commit ourselves then to thy grace, in our Savior's precious name.

Amen.