Worship Part2

John chapter 11. I'm still thinking about the theme of worship, and this evening I want to focus on two women, really the devotion of two women facing death, really the death of the Lord Jesus. And so we're going to look at Mary of Bethany, and then as a sort of contrast, in a way, Mary Magdalene.

Now, the reason that I gave out the hymn at the beginning, I was actually going to read in Psalm 23, but I thought, well, I'll sing it instead. And I've been enjoying lately a little bit about the glory of God, and one of the things that has been striking me is that His eternal being is really the foundation of everything else that we can know about God. That is the foundation of everything, His eternal self-existent being.

And the title that reflects that, in the word of God, is the title Jehovah. And although it's not as evident in our English Bibles, that's what you have in Psalm 23. And if you had a French translation, that's the way it would read, The Eternal is My Shepherd.

And really that's the true impact of the title, Jehovah is the Eternal. And it's interesting that John chapter 10 is the chapter of the Good Shepherd. So what I want to do in linking together the idea of the Lord as the Shepherd is to think with you of how He cared for this family in John chapter 11.

And in some senses it's kind of paradoxical, it's shocking, because He's the Good Shepherd, and yet He allows things that are very, very difficult, and even going into death itself, to touch this family. So let's read a few verses in the chapter. Verse 1, 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 sisters 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. Now as you go down through the chapter, you know that He then begins to set out on the journey to Bethany.

And verse 14, He's speaking to His disciples, Then said Jesus unto them, plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad. Now that's a shocking connection, isn't it? He is dead. I am glad for your sakes.

I was not there. To the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto Him.

Verse 17, Then when Jesus came, He found that He had lain in the grave four days already. Now let's just notice a little bit in this first part, first before we go down through the remainder of the chapter. He's the Shepherd.

He's my Shepherd. He's your Shepherd. He's the Eternal Shepherd.

And as the Eternal Shepherd, that means that His care is constant. It is unceasing. There is never a moment in our experience that we experience that He is not there as our Shepherd.

And that should be a wonderful consolation to us. Now Psalm 23 is a beautiful Psalm, but recently I was looking at it and just wondering how much I really know about it. How much I'm really experiencing of the blessing that is implied in that Psalm.

The Lord is my Shepherd. Therefore, I won't be lacking anything. Now do we have that sense of completeness, satisfaction, joy, peacefulness that is implied in that Psalm? As I look at that Psalm, I have to admit that either He is not such a good Shepherd as He claims to be, or I am not an obedient sheep.

I am not a responsive sheep to Him. And I guess we have to know, we have to admit where the problem is. And yet as we look at this chapter, John Chapter 11, we see that things are not always as we would naturally expect them to be.

It tells us very plainly that the Lord Jesus loved this family. And the sisters send an urgent message. We don't know how long Lazarus has been sick, but they are obviously getting very concerned.

And they send this urgent message, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And I would expect that the answer the Lord gave in verse 4 was communicated back to those sisters. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.

And I am sure that would have been a tremendous assurance to them. He is going to get better. He is going to turn out okay.

And yet, instead of that, He does die. And if you notice the time frames that are implied in the passage as we get down to the end of the chapter, and Martha refers to Him being dead for four days, and verse 17 mentions He is laying in the grave four days already, it would seem that the messengers barely got back with this assurance from the Lord as their shepherd. The messengers probably barely got back with that message before Lazarus dies.

So what kind of contradiction there must have been going on in the mind of these sisters? What kind of confusion as they were seeing what was going on? And as you look at what the Lord said in verse 4, we really need to look at this and ask ourselves the question, is this right? He says that this is for the glory of God. This event, this circumstance, is a circumstance in which God is going to be glorified. And then as we go down through the chapter, you will see that the Lord is emphasizing this.

I think we could recognize what He is implying is that our lives are not ours, and what goes on in our lives is not actually at our disposing, but at His will, and what He chooses to accomplish in and through what happens in our lives. And as He says that this is for the glory of God, and then when you come down to verse 14, and He says, now, Lazarus is dead. He has died.

And I'm glad for your sakes. Now again, that's almost shocking, isn't it? Doesn't it sound almost callous? He's talking to His disciples about someone else that He loves, and says, now, He's dead. And I'm glad it's turned out this way.

It just seems hard to swallow, doesn't it? From our side of things. Is He great enough that we're going to be willing to trust Him if He's going to let this happen to us? If He is going to let our lives experience these severe afflictions, the loss of loved ones, are we still expected to trust Him? Are we still expected to love Him, though He does this to us, and lets it happen? Well, that's what this chapter is really bringing together. You know, this chapter is really the story of all of our lives.

Only it's compressed into a few short days, instead of being stretched over. The time period it's going to take from the present experience of our lives, until the day when He calls the dead in Christ out from death, and we stand in His presence, and see the glory that is His, as He manifests His authority to ransom, redeem His own from death's grasp. Nevertheless, let us go.

I was glad I am not there for your sakes, to the intent you may believe. So here you have two things that are outside of me. Reasons that God may have for allowing something to take place in my life.

The primary thing is, for the glory of God. That in some way, God is going to be manifested, and honored. And the other is, that someone else is going to be brought to faith in God, or their spiritual benefit is in mind.

And the reason for that is, that God is going to be manifested. Now, I want to notice with you a little bit about Martha and Mary. Verse 20, when Martha, 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 will ask of God, God will give it Thee. Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

Martha said 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 know that we have the impression, generally speaking, that Mary always shines a little brighter than Martha in her spirituality, in her spiritual understanding.

And yet, I'm going to suggest what might be heresy, that in this chapter, in this circumstance, Martha actually is closer to true spiritual awareness than Mary is. And I think we can see that not only by what she says and does, but how the Lord responds to her. And just looking at this, you know, you could look at this, what Martha says, as if it's almost an accusation.

And I don't know whether there was any accusing tone in her voice or not. There must have been perplexity. Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

Yet, there is, in her mind, this glimmer of hope, of light. But, I know. Now, those are amazing words to say.

Her brother has died. And she is talking to the Lord, and she said, I know that even now, whatever you will ask of God, God will give it to you. So, the Lord is able to reveal to her some very precious revelation about himself.

Her mind is open. Her heart is open to the possibility that something greater could still happen. Now, it doesn't really sound like that when you get to the tomb, the way she responds, but she does hear.

And the Lord says, your brother is going to rise again. And then she acknowledges the faith of the faithful, that there is going to be a resurrection in the last day. And then, I don't know how shocking it would be to her, to have the Lord Jesus looking right at her and saying, I am the resurrection.

I am the resurrection and the life. Now, that would be rather astounding and wonderful to listen to. I am the resurrection and the life.

And then what he says, I know has been difficult to interpret for us today, but I take it as being very literal. He meant exactly what it sounds like at that moment. What was he saying? He was saying that the person who believes in me, even though he has died, he is going to live.

And whoever lives and believes in me in this moment shall never die. Now you say, well, let's get that straight. What do you mean? Well, because he is the resurrection and the life, and he had come to establish the kingdom of God, and part of the feature of that kingdom of God is the conquering of death.

The establishing of the true rule of the Great Shepherd, of the Good Shepherd, of the Eternal Shepherd, that all enemies are going to be banished. This is what they were looking forward to in the kingdom that is, of course, associated with the resurrection at the last day was the kingdom of God coming. And here he is really saying the kingdom is here for you.

In the presence of the King, and I have thought about this many times through the years, I would say probably at every funeral that I have attended for the last 25 or 30 years, since this really struck me, is to think that in one sense this is all unnecessary. All of the grief, the sorrow, the misery that has been experienced on earth for the last 2,000 years didn't have to be, because the Savior was here, standing here on earth in all of his ability, in all of his authority, in all of his power to bring in God's kingdom and to eradicate all that would distress us. Now we have to think that in our present circumstances God is permitting sin to be in the world, he is permitting death to still reign, because he is working out his purposes.

He is permitting the enemy to still be in control. But as you see in this chapter, his great longing is to utter that word and to expel the enemy and bring the blessing that would really correspond to his heart for his people as the shepherd. So the Lord is really declaring the potential that was there at that moment, and he says do you believe this? And her response shows that she understood that the coming of the Christ was expected to coincide with the beginning of the kingdom and the triumph of God over the evil one.

She said unto him, Yea Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. So the Lord is able to open her mind and heart to the glory, to the greatness that is inherent in him, and the potential that was there for them at that time. So she calls her sister Mary.

In Mary's response, in 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 hadst been here, my brother had not died. Now is there anything different there? It reads exactly the same, in our English version at least. But if you have a Newberry Bible, as I do, you will notice that in the margin there is a different word, a slightly different word for the word die.

And the word that Mary uses is, my brother, if you had been here, my brother had not utterly died. To die utterly. Or the sense of to utterly perish.

Now, it is pretty hard to make much distinction between dying and dying. But there seems to be in her mind this absoluteness, this finality. My brother is perished.

And there is a total hopelessness in her soul. And she is weeping, which I don't know whether Martha was or not, but there is no record of it in that encounter. How does the Lord respond to her? He doesn't start on a lecture.

He doesn't attempt to enlighten her. What he does is he sympathetically enters into her moment. What she is feeling.

And we see this in verse 33, 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 which 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. I want to think with you a little bit about this weeping and groaning.

Why did he weep? Why did he groan? Well, I think Romans chapter 8 would probably help us to understand. As we think of the passage in Romans 8 about the spirit, we are part of a groaning creation. And that groaning is in essence because we are in bondage.

We are in anguish, we are in pain as a creation, under the bondage of corruption as it is expressed there. And at the same time, the groaning is shown to be as birth pangs. It sounds like death, and yet it is birth pang groanings that are implied as well.

And there is this idea that we are not going to groan in a certain condition unless we know of something better. Unless we hope there is something better. And the groaning really conveys both things.

The agony of what is now, and the yearning, the longing for what yet will be. And so the Lord here is, he is in his sympathy toward us. He is drawing close to us and associating himself with us.

I don't think there is anything theatrical here in what he is doing. He truly feels the burden of our infirmity, of all that we are in, in our condition, human condition presently. And himself being the one who is going to be the wonderful liberator, what a yearning there must have been within him to set these people free from what they were experiencing.

So you have this intense groaning as he thinks about death, and what he had come to earth to do, to deliver us from sin and its consequences. So I believe that he was groaning for them, and I believe he was groaning for us. Entering into what we go through and will yet go through until the Lord comes.

And the yearning within him to deliver us from it. Then as we come to the grave, and he tells them to take away the stone, and Martha kind of argues with him about it because of the condition of the body. Verse 40, Jesus says unto her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God? And then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.

Jesus lifted up his eyes and said Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin.

Jesus said unto them, loose him and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. Now again we have to ask ourselves a question.

Did he have the right to do this to this family? In order that he might show that power? Well, I guess he did. Does he have the right to allow us to go through this same kind of experience for whatever eternal purpose that he has? Well, I guess we have to say yes he does. And this is where if we are going to appreciate him as our shepherd, we are going to need not only to have a blind trust in him, in the sense that he is good, no matter what life looks like now, he is good.

But to believe that he has something of eternal goodness in it. That this suffering will be able to be looked back on in a way in the future, and we will say it was worth it. It was worth going through that experience for what we now see and enjoy of him.

And I think we get a little glimpse of that when you come into chapter 12, because I am not sure how much later chapter 12 occurs, it could be a few months after, from the time that Lazarus is raised from the dead, and then as chapter 12 opens, we have the Lord coming to the time when he himself is going to go to Calvary. And it says in verse 1 of chapter 12, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 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? And the Lord's response in verse 7, Then said Jesus, Let her alone.

Against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always you have with you, but me you have not always. So I want to look at this, which is very familiar to us again, of this act of worship by Mary.

Now, I think that Judas has done us all a disservice by drawing attention to the monetary value of this worship. All it says in verse 3 is that it was very costly. There wasn't any price tag put on it, it was just very costly.

Whereas he puts a price tag on it, three hundred pence. And so that's what we look at and think about when we think of this worship. And frankly, we hear this so often that I'm just making an assumption that it is sort of true, that this is approximately one year's salary.

One year's wages. Now that's quite a variation of what kind of figure you want to pick today, but let's just pick a round figure of forty thousand dollars or fifty thousand dollars. Now if you watch somebody in a few moments of time pour out and use something worth fifty thousand dollars, that would kind of impress you, wouldn't it? It would shock you.

And you would realize that this obviously is supposed to be a special occasion. It must be something very special. Judas saw nothing of value in what she did.

What a waste. You know, this could have done so much good for the poor. And true, very true.

It could have alleviated some suffering momentarily. But what did this worship really mean? And also, what did it really cost? I was really struck by this, just in looking at this, that the true cost of Mary's worship was not the price tag that could be put on it. The true cost of her worship was John chapter 11.

The experience of losing a loved one. That experience that the Lord permitted her to go through, just like it was with Abraham, became the catalyst, if we could use that expression, the means by which her mind was opened to understand what the Lord was going to do. What seems strange to us, of course, on the other side, is why couldn't the disciples understand when the Lord kept telling them that he was going to die and he was going to rise again? Why couldn't they get it through their head? Well, it's because every time he did something wonderful, it just reinforced the idea in their minds that nobody can defeat him.

Nobody will ever take him. He will be the conqueror. He will be the king.

And we're going to be right there with him in the kingdom. They could not fit together the idea of him being overcome and put to death. It just didn't make sense.

But as Mary analyzed and went through this experience and pondered what it meant, and as she saw her brother, her own brother, coming out of that tomb, living again, and the joy and the wonder that would have come into her mind, and to realize that the Lord Jesus has the power over death, she entered into the reality that he himself really was going to actually die, but that he was going to be raised from the dead. And as she understood that, and so I would suggest that the meaning of her worship was twofold. It was appreciation, a deep appreciation for what he did for her, for her brother.

But it was also an awareness and anticipation and understanding that the will of God was going to mean that he was going to give his life and that he was going to be raised out of death triumphant. And so the Lord Jesus, as he discerned why she was pouring out this fragrance upon his body, he said, she is doing it in preparation for my burial. And so this is worship that is in spirit, it is an expression of intense devotion, and it is also worship in truth.

Worship that embraces the reality of the God that we are brought face-to-face with. And so he deeply appreciated it. Now, just by way of contrast, I want to spend a few minutes looking at Mary Magdalene, because you know it's very possible that Mary Magdalene was there at that event too.

She was one of those women who followed the Lord and ministered to him, and it certainly would have been very widespread among the disciples. And whether Mary Magdalene actually witnessed this happening in John chapter 11, or she certainly would have heard about it, it would have been very, very much talked about. But when we come to John chapter 19, verse 25, it says, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Now if you read through the various crucifixion accounts, you will find that Mary Magdalene was the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene expresses a wonderful devotion as she is wrestling with the death of the Lord Jesus, as she is watching him crucified. In Matthew chapter 27, if you read the account there, she follows when they take him out to bury him. Joseph and Nicodemus take him out to the burial, and she and another sister keep vigil at the sepulcher after the rest of them go home.

So her devotion is very, very evident, and I'll just read a little bit of John chapter 20 as well. Here we have the first day of the week, chapter 20 and verse 1, The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.

Now the other gospel accounts tell us that there was another Mary with her, and when she says we know not where they have laid him would imply that there was somebody else with her, although it's not mentioned here. And as you know how the story goes, Peter and John, we take it to be, run to the sepulcher and they look at the sepulcher and at the linen clothes and then they go back home. Verse 11, But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.

And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master or Teacher.

And Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. Now there are certain details given in the other accounts that I'll just weave into this.

Before the first day of the week arrived, she and one or two others, I'm not sure how many exactly were involved, prepared spices and ointments. The devotion was identical, we could say, to Mary of Bethany, and yet it was ineffective in that the spices that she had prepared never got used for the intended purpose. And the weeping that was here was actually unnecessary, because he was already alive from the dead.

So here you have an example of worship, of devotion, that is sincere, it is true, and yet it is not according to knowledge or understanding. And of course, as we see, the Lord is not alone. The Lord did reward her devotion by revealing himself to her first.

And that certainly would reflect that that devotion was appreciated. And I don't want to be in any way derogatory to her, because in some sense she fits more with ourselves in this way, that we often are faced with this dilemma of our devotion to him when we are troubled, when we are going through something that doesn't make any sense to us, and we don't understand what's going on. We don't understand the outcome of it.

So she expresses this, that we can at least appreciate, of someone being loyal and faithful right to the bitter end, even to the bitter end. Even in death, she cared about his body. Now that's devotion, that's a loyalty that really has no boundaries.

Loyal without understanding, and we can appreciate that at least about her. It does say in Matthew 28 that whoever was with her, that when the Lord Jesus revealed himself to them, that they came and held him by the feet and they worshipped him. And so there is, you know, later she does come to the same point of understanding, and the outcome is worship.

Now, where does that put us? Well, our circumstances may be very different. In both of the settings that I have looked at, both last night and tonight, there was very severe trial. Death is very prominent.

And in each case, there was the necessity of being able to look at death and through death into resurrection. And I believe that at least that is one essential thing that every one of us can honor God in, as we live day by day, in that our faith will reach through the prospect of death, whether it's our own death, or the death of loved ones, and we will believe in him and trust in him and stay devoted and loyal to him, even when everything natural is threatened or potentially to be taken away. But you know, there are many other passages that link the idea of worship, and I'm just going to try to give you just a handful of them very, very briefly as we close.

Romans chapter 12 is really, though it is so, again, so familiar to us, really expresses the most fundamental worship that we can return to him. And it really is a response to the glory of God that is expressed in chapter 11, of his wisdom, of his power, of the fact that in verse 36, of him that is of God, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Now chapter 12 says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And that word service there really carries with it the idea, it's translated worship in other places. It's really like temple service or religious service.

So what is this really? Well, it's just simply being devoted to God. The devoting of ourselves intelligently, deliberately to God, to be used by him for our lifetime here on earth. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

That is, you are presenting yourself, all of your potential, your capabilities, your opportunities, everything that you are and have, you are presenting to him for his use. Whatever use he may choose to make use of it. When we do that, you know, we really don't have any right to complain what he does with our lives.

We have expressed to him that we trust him absolutely. And we surrender to him absolutely. We are dedicating ourselves to him for service throughout our life.

And then what follows from that, if you follow the context of the passage, is really spiritual gift. Whatever spiritual abilities he has given to us to use, to use them for his glory. Over in chapter 15, we find another one that is related to worship or religious service.

This is really the declaration of the gospel. Romans 15, in the end of verse 9, it says, verse 15, he speaks of the grace given to me of God. Verse 16, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God.

Now the word minister and ministering there, there are two different words actually, and they are not the usual terms to minister. But carry with it more the idea of a ministering priest, sacredly ministering the gospel of God. And the outcome of it is, as people get saved, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Now there is a very parallel passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, that we can notice along with this, which again is the spreading of the gospel, and the language is very similar there, where he says in verse 14, now thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the savour of his knowledge by or through us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. If you put these two passages together, it suggests this idea, that as we have a testimony and whether it is public preaching of the gospel, or whether it is simply conversing with another person, and even our very life could be implied in 2 Corinthians 2, that we are, even as we are speaking to other people about the Lord Jesus Christ, God is accepting that as a worship to himself, as a spiritual sacrifice that is ascending to himself as of adoration and praise and worship.

If you think about it, it should not be too hard to understand that God is very pleased, delighted to hear his Son being favorably spoken of and being proclaimed as the Saviour. So as we are doing this, we are in this world a precious reminder to him of Christ. As we go through our daily lives, we are like this savour.

And if you remember from the offerings, the savour was a sweet savour, a savour of rest and satisfaction that God receives. But over in Philippians chapter 2, there is another one that relates more to our ministry and care to one another, as well as our whole Christian life. Philippians 2 and 17, Paul says here, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.

Now there is a lot of sacrificial language here. I would suggest that Paul is using the analogy of the drink offering in which he looks at himself and his ministry as being like the oil and wine that is poured out upon the major offering. What is the major offering? It is their faith and their service, their Christian life.

So in other words, God looks at your entire Christian life as you are living out your life, out of your faith in Christ, just what you do as a Christian, because you are a Christian. And he is receiving that as worship to himself. So there is that beautiful aspect of it.

And then as Paul is seeing of his service towards the Christians, he said, I am just like the drink offering being poured out, that is poured out upon the offering and that it is just lost sight of. And it goes up with the offering, it enhances the value and the benefit of that offering. And that is what so much of our Christian service really is involved in.

As we are helping one another, encouraging one another, whether it is in the public gatherings or encouraging one another day by day, we are just like pouring a little bit of spiritual life and service into one another. And I am sure every one of us would acknowledge that we could not possibly go back and even appreciate properly the influence of so many different people upon our lives. What they have contributed to our spiritual life, the Lord knows.

And this passage is looking on to the judgment seat of Christ, when he will discerningly reward every believer for the effect, the influence that they have contributed to one another. In chapter 4 there is a reference to the assembly gift, and that is also expressed in sacrificial terms as being, verse 18, I have all and abound, I am full having received of Epaphroditus the things sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. So even what we contribute to the Lord's work is first of all received by God directly as being a thanksgiving or fellowship offering unto him and his intended purposes.

Dropping back to Ephesians chapter 5, we have another very beautiful description here. In Ephesians 5 and verse 1 and 2 it says, Be ye therefore followers of God, imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Now I call this one discipleship in love.

As we simply live out our Christian life in the attitude of love to one another or love for others, caring for the needs of others, we are following the one who has expressed that perfect devotedness to God. And you notice the way it's expressed for the Lord Jesus. It says he loved us, he has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.

So you have, this is going in two directions at the same time. He has done it for us, but he has done it unto God. I think there is actually a very important secret in that way of looking at it.

Sometimes we get very discouraged because we don't see either benefit or appreciation from others for what we are trying to do for them. But while we are trying to do things for other people, we are doing it unto God. And of course I'm sure you've heard this at times when you're discouraged and want to give up and someone says, well who are you doing it for anyway? Well, they're trying to get to this point.

Yes, you are doing it for others. And it really does help when it is appreciated and recognized. But even if it isn't, it is being done unto God as an expression of your love, of your devotedness, of your worship of God himself.

And he will appreciate it and he will reward it whether other people properly enter into it and acknowledge it or appreciate it. Now there is another very well-known one in Hebrews, Hebrews 13. There are two of them where it refers to doing good and communicating, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.

And then there is also linked with that, let us offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to God. So there is devotion to his praise and there is demonstrating his compassion and his care. So our circumstances may not be extreme like we've been looking at the last two nights.

Abraham, Job, Bethany and Mary Magdalene. But the Lord is looking at our lives and appreciating whatever we are doing and being as Christians that reflects that acknowledgment of him. And fundamentally worship is not altogether what we say, although that is certainly an important part of it, but it is our attitude and our acknowledgment of him by how we live our lives.

Shall we