Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Well, good morning, church. Good morning.
[00:00:08] Wonderful to be here to speak to you again.
[00:00:12] I do love this church. I love the sharing that goes on. It's so nice to have some fresh voices leading worship. Can we just thank you guys again for leading worship?
[00:00:21] Beautiful to have you guys here.
[00:00:25] Part of a network, isn't it? We're part of a big family and every time I'm reminded of just how big that family goes, it just warms my heart.
[00:00:34] I get overwhelmed sometimes by just how big this church of Jesus Christ is. I love this relationship with Exeter. I love this network with the whole of Elim. I love the fact that this church is willing to let me, a Baptist minister, with my roots in the Anglican Church that is dipping into Ichthus Christian Fellowship and the Pentecostal movement and working in an ecumenical context, within which is in a government establishment.
[00:01:01] I love the way that increasingly all that matters is that we see Jesus in each other, right?
[00:01:09] These denominations will pass.
[00:01:12] The church will find itself one day. And I don't think it's that far away.
[00:01:17] All that is going to matter is that we are citizens of heaven.
[00:01:22] And when you see Jesus in someone, when you see that mark of the Holy Spirit working in someone's life, that is all that's going to matter. And we won't really care what banner we serve under, right?
[00:01:31] We shall be all disciples in one place.
[00:01:34] And I've lost track of the amount of people from denominations I've never been a part of that have inspired my socks off, because they live like Jesus.
[00:01:44] That's where we're going.
[00:01:45] But I love that this church is right at the heart of that and living in that reality now.
[00:01:50] I just wanted to encourage you, as many of you know, who got to know me and our family a little bit. I spend my working week and about one in three Sundays leading a church over in Lympston at the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre.
[00:02:08] And it is just so beautiful what God is doing amongst the lads over there. There's a couple of girls in there, but it's nearly all lads. And I call it the Commando Revival. Some people call it the quiet revival amongst the young adults across this country. But I call my little bit of it my little wing, the Commando Revival. And we are seeing lads every single week turning their hearts towards Jesus.
[00:02:31] And last Sunday I was there and I was preaching, preaching on a similar passage to the one I'm preaching on today. And it was when the woman who was caught in adultery was thrown in front of Jesus.
[00:02:42] And I was preaching about the Forgiveness of sin and what kind of God. Jesus came to demonstrate before us.
[00:02:50] And at the end of that service about 40 Bibles were taken.
[00:02:55] We also had a prayer ministry time. And when I invited these lads to come and pray and to receive a blessing from God and to meet with Jesus, I had a queue going right the way down the chapel and out the door.
[00:03:07] Because these young men, all of them are between 16 and about 26, 27, are hungry. Hungry for an encounter with the risen Lord Jesus.
[00:03:18] Isn't that wonderful?
[00:03:21] This is what God is doing in our day.
[00:03:24] Jesus wants us to be aware of the signs of our times. He wants to be aware of what God is doing at the moment. And I believe with every ounce of my being that God has softened the heart of a whole generation.
[00:03:39] Great to see these lads standing up here this morning. They are first fruits.
[00:03:45] There is a whole generation that is softening towards Jesus.
[00:03:49] What does God want from us? God wants us to be courageous, to be confident signposters, to assume that God has already gone before us. The vast majority of people who are young adults right now are warm to Christ. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm prophesying to you. Vast majority of them are warm to Christ. Don't assume that they're not going to want to hear when you start that spiritual conversation.
[00:04:16] Some of them have been waiting, dying for someone they can have that conversation with.
[00:04:21] That's the vast majority that I'm meeting at the moment.
[00:04:24] I believe that we've got to be like a new wineskin type church at the moment. That's what the Spirit is calling for. A church that can kind of wrap our lives around what God is doing and just bring in like big net style scoops and scoops and scoops of the next generation.
[00:04:41] And I also believe that it will be this generation, this young adult generation now that is going to be calling their prodigal parents home.
[00:04:50] God is going to use them to reach the generation that didn't tell them about Jesus.
[00:04:55] He's doing something beautiful in our time. And I just think this is an amazing time to be alive.
[00:05:01] This is an amazing chapter of history to be a believer in the United Kingdom.
[00:05:06] I want to encourage you to be confident, to be bold and to step out.
[00:05:12] You can pray for me this week. I'm going to be out in the field all week. This coming week, by this time tomorrow it'll be on Woodbury Common and I will be already been dunked in one of the many jacuzzis as they call Them on Woodberry Common, that smell a bit like wet dog.
[00:05:29] And what they do is there's a whole load of navigation and physical stuff you've got to do during the day. And then they dunk you just before you get into your sleeping bag at night. So then you get your dry kit on in the middle of the night. They bless you by coming out in the middle of the night. They wake you up, you've got to be back in your wet rig within five minutes, formed up, and then there will be a night exercise and then you get back to where your harbour position is, where you camped, and they'll be like, right, five minutes back in your bags, lads, and you've got to be back in your bags, in your dry kit within five minutes. And then very early morning, normally about five o' clock in the morning, you're up, you've got to do your whole morning admin routine. You've got to present your kit perfectly and then away you go again. And that's what I'm going to be doing for the next four days or so.
[00:06:13] So you can pray for me, because that's a young man's game, isn't it?
[00:06:17] The issue is that's where my lads are.
[00:06:19] So if I want to win the right to speak about Jesus, I've got to go get alongside him, which means I gotta get wet. I'm also preparing for my next job, which is gonna be down at 30 Commando in Plymouth, who are sent all over the world to some of the most troubled conflicts around the planet. They do a lot of training in the high north, in Norway, where I'm gonna be this winter, but they're also in conflict zones around the world. And my job will be to go to wherever they are to minister to them wherever they are. That's my next job. So I have to prepare in this season with the lads at the Commando Training Centre to make sure that my green skills are up to speed so they don't have to look after the padre too much.
[00:07:00] And when I come alongside, I'll have a little bit of credibility. Why?
[00:07:04] Because I want to speak Jesus so you can pray for me that I'll survive my training and that also the Lord will go with me wherever he'll send me into the next season because the Lord wants us mobile. Amen.
[00:07:20] Now, this morning we are going to look at a beautiful subject and I want to invite you all to pour out your lives unto Christ once again.
[00:07:35] This is a call to radical Christian living in covenant with Jesus.
[00:07:41] That's where we're going today.
[00:07:44] I just want to start with a little story I've been.
[00:07:47] Has anyone found the Inspired podcast? Simon Gilbeau Hands.
[00:07:52] Oh, this is good.
[00:07:54] I am binge listening at the moment to a podcast series by Simon Gilbeau called Inspired. Look it up on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast from, because what it is is story after story after story of Christians from all around the world just giving their story about how they have seen Jesus at work within their ministry or within their lives.
[00:08:16] And it is just stunning. I'm just sort of juicing up on these stories of God, what God is doing around the world every day on my way into work and on the way home and just recalibrating my life and my expectations with what God is doing left, right and centre around the world.
[00:08:30] Highly, highly recommended. And I was listening to one this week and it was a guy called Mervyn Thomas, who is one of the founders of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which is an organization that works to support the persecuted church all over the world. And he has some of the stuff he has seen by working with the persecuted church and some of the ways that God has stepped in and worked with them under pressure is absolutely stunning. But there was one story which is a little bit closer to home that really spoke to me and thought it sets up what I'm about to speak about quite well.
[00:09:03] And it is when his son, who was 12 years old, was saving up money for a computer game. I think it was one of the FIFA games, and he'd been saving up his pocket money and he'd been saving up for weeks and weeks and weeks to get this computer game, and he'd managed to save £50, and the game itself was £48. He was like, yes, I'm ready to go, I can buy my game.
[00:09:31] But he was so inspired by some of the stories that his dad was sharing when he was coming back from these hostile places and telling stories about how these Christians were surviving there and the things that they needed and trying to raise money for these Christians that needed the support that he said, dad, I want to give you my £50. I think the persecuted church needs my money more than I do.
[00:09:54] And his dad said, he said, well, son, that's a really beautiful thing. That's lovely what you want to do there, but how about you buy your game and then you've got a little bit left over, you've got a couple of pounds, you can put that in and I will make sure that the persecuted church gets that two pounds. He said, no, dad, that doesn't feel right. And so his dad said, well, why don't you just give some of it, maybe half of it, and then you're halfway there to your game and we can give half of it. That would be amazing. The persecuted church would really thank you for that. And he said, okay, I'll go away and pray. Went away and prayed. Next day comes back to his dad. He said, dad, I've prayed and I just want you to have £50.
[00:10:27] I want you to go and give it to the persecuted church. I really feel that God wants me to give this money.
[00:10:32] So he said, okay, son, you know, that's an extraordinary thing. I'll make sure that I take it to the office tomorrow. And so this lad put all this money, pound coins into an envelope and this guy took it to his office and the guy that looks after the finance in the office for Christian Solidarity Worldwide met him in the morning, Monday morning, and he hands him this envelope with the 50 pounds in. He explains what it is. And this guy was like, that is amazing.
[00:10:58] What a beautiful thing for a 12 year old to be so inspired by what God is doing around the world that he's willing to give his precious 50 pounds that he saved up for his video game to that he took it upstairs to his office to count it out. And as he counted it out, he counted out £100 and comes back down and says, how much did you say was in the envelope? He said it was 50 pounds. It was my son's video game money. He said, well, I just counted out a hundred pounds from the envelope, so there's fifty pounds. Could you give that back to your son in pound coins?
[00:11:30] And the guy was like, are you sure you haven't just made this up and just added a little bit in to reward my son? He said, no, swear to God, this is before the Lord. As I counted it out, there was a hundred one pound coins in that envelope. Give this back to your son. So he was able to take this £50 and give it back to his son and say, do you see how far faithful God is when you put in your everything, God will make sure you have all you need. He knows your needs and he loves what you just did and your offering you can't out give God. Right?
[00:12:02] That's a little, little picture of what we're talking about today.
[00:12:07] That as we are willing to bring what we have before the Lord, the Lord can do stunning things.
[00:12:15] And so let's read our passage together. We're moving through Luke and now we're in Luke chapter seven, and we're reading from verse 36, so I think that's the end of it. I'm going to be reading from the new living translation, but you can pick it up. You can kind of follow it as we go along. So Luke 7 and from verse 36, and in my Bible, it says, jesus anointed by a sinful woman.
[00:12:44] One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him. So Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.
[00:12:50] When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
[00:13:00] Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.
[00:13:04] Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.
[00:13:09] Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
[00:13:14] When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner.
[00:13:25] Then Jesus answered his thoughts.
[00:13:28] Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.
[00:13:34] Go ahead, teacher, Simon replied.
[00:13:36] Then Jesus told him a story.
[00:13:39] A man loaned money to two people, 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him.
[00:13:49] So he kindly forgave them both, cancelling their debts.
[00:13:54] Who do you suppose loved him more after that?
[00:13:57] Simon answered, well, well, I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.
[00:14:03] That's right, Jesus said.
[00:14:05] Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this woman kneeling here.
[00:14:11] When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
[00:14:20] You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
[00:14:27] You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head. But she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
[00:14:34] I tell you, her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven.
[00:14:41] So she has shown much love.
[00:14:44] But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.
[00:14:50] Then Jesus said to the women, your sins are forgiven.
[00:14:54] The men at the table said among themselves, who is this man that he goes around forgiving sins?
[00:15:02] And Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you go in peace.
[00:15:10] It's beautiful, isn't it?
[00:15:12] Stunning story.
[00:15:15] This story is so significant that you can read accounts like this story in all four gospels. When you see something repeated in all four gospels, you know it is absolutely central to the ministry of Christ, none of them felt they could leave a story like this out. And actually, to the best of my understanding, and I've just done a little bit of scholarship into this and read around it a little bit. I think there are three anointings of very similar kind like this in Jesus ministry that you find.
[00:15:48] So you've got in Matthew and Mark.
[00:15:54] There is something that happens in Passover week. It says that two days before Passover, in the house of Simon the Leper.
[00:16:01] It says that a woman came and anointed Jesus in a similar fashion with tears and drying his feet with her hair and with perfume and kissing his feet.
[00:16:13] And then at the same time, there is another one in John, it says six days before Passover. And then it says Mary, who is the sister of Lazarus, and Martha came and did the same very expensive alabaster jar. Perfume poured out over Jesus and washed his feet in that meeting too. So you've got two of them saying that there was one two days before Passover in the house of Simon the Leper. You've got one which is six days before Passover.
[00:16:43] And this is the crucifixion in the home of Mary and Martha. And then you've got this one which is over a year earlier.
[00:16:51] And this is in the house of Simon the Pharisee.
[00:16:56] That's, as far as I understand, three different anointing times for Jesus. On the run up to the Passover, Jesus says that she is anointed me for burial.
[00:17:06] Whereas this one is over a year earlier.
[00:17:08] It's a slightly different thing.
[00:17:13] So it's in the home of a Pharisee. This one, the woman is not named.
[00:17:21] It says in my translation she is a certain immoral woman.
[00:17:25] So she is either a sex worker or someone with that kind of reputation. But I love the way he said a certain immoral woman, as in, she's notorious. She is known, a known character within the city. And in a city, in the context of where Jesus is right now, cities aren't maybe, as you and I know, it's not like. It's not like Leeds. It's not as big as that.
[00:17:48] It's not like London or Manchester. It's not even like Exeter. It's not even like Newton Abbot.
[00:17:54] A city in Israel at that time, where he was would be more like a big village. I mean, this is small communities. Anyone live in a village here, you can't fart without someone at the other end of the village knowing about it. Right? Everybody knows everybody's business. We've lived in several different Villages.
[00:18:13] We live in a little sort of hamlet now. And everybody largely knows who everybody else is and where they are. And it even says, I think it's in verse 37, that she heard where Jesus was eating and went to find him there. So she knows where somebody that just arrived in the village is having his dinner. It's that kind of small town village life. So they know who this woman is, they know what her reputation is, they know what kind of character, what kind of life that she's led.
[00:18:40] And she's the sort of person that doesn't normally show up at a Pharisee's dinner party.
[00:18:46] So it does, it does ruffle some feathers.
[00:18:53] So what's going on here? There's three different anointings we find in the Gospels.
[00:18:58] Is this a practice? I had a little dig around, I tried to do some research. Is this something that happens? Is this like a common thing that was known in 1st century Israel that sometimes happens? Or is this like something completely new that we first see in the Gospels? As far as I can understand, I can't find this happening anywhere outside of the New Testament.
[00:19:20] This wasn't just some kind of thing that would have been understood by Jesus first observers. This was like, this was new. This was something out of the box.
[00:19:32] This woman does something spontaneous, unique, creative, very costly out of sheer love for Jesus.
[00:19:42] Why does it take this form of pouring perfume on Jesus feet, washing his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair?
[00:19:53] Where does that come from? Where does the kissing of his feet come from? What might that be linked to?
[00:20:01] And I think Jesus here just gives us an insight into what it is that she's doing.
[00:20:08] Because he says, look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me the water to wash the dust from my feet, but she's washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she's not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I think what this woman has done has taken the customs of the day, she's taken the normal thing that people used to do to show worth and value and love to the people that are coming to their home. Part of the hospitality rituals where they would come in the front door and what they do is they make sure that they can wash their feet, the dirt from the streets, off their feet. So their feet would be dusty, there would be like animal dung. There'd be all sorts on the roads as they came to the house. And so it was customary for them to wash their feet as they came before dinner. And you see that in other places in the gospel where Jesus turns the foot water, the foot washing water into wine, you know, the massive jars.
[00:21:13] And there's other times where it talks about washing your feet. It was a customary thing. It was also a beautiful thing to refresh them with fragrance as they came in, just to anoint their heads with oil.
[00:21:23] People didn't bath as much as they do today, so maybe that's part of it. Just so they could just feel like they've freshened up for dinner, they've come in.
[00:21:32] And also it was customary to greet with a sign of physical affection, greet each other with a holy kiss. This was part of it. So I think what this woman has done is she's taken the normal things that people do to say, I really value you, you're precious to me.
[00:21:46] And then she supercharged them into this massive act of worship where she's poured out not just the customary things, but she's poured out her life into this beautiful act of love for Jesus.
[00:22:00] And I absolutely love that. She's not done anything that is, you know, mind blowingly original in a way. She's just taken the normal way that people usually treat each other well. And then she's gone the extra mile with it, which I really, really love.
[00:22:24] I feel like we can learn some profound lessons as to how to live a life that really blesses Jesus heart from this woman. And I'm just going to pull out two things, two simple things. I think we can manage that this morning, right?
[00:22:39] Take two big takeaways from this.
[00:22:42] And the first one is this.
[00:22:45] Her love for Jesus meant she didn't mind getting her hair dirty.
[00:22:50] Her love for Jesus meant she didn't mind getting her hair dirty. You know, foot washing is a grubby business.
[00:22:57] Normally a lot of water and a towel.
[00:23:01] She uses tears and hair.
[00:23:04] I don't think her tears are going to generate a huge amount of water enough to kind of move the dirt around a little bit, right? That dirt is coming off in one way and that's because she's literally wiping his feet off with her hair. All of that street dirt ends up where in her hair.
[00:23:24] She is willing to get filthy for the love of her Lord.
[00:23:31] And when I read this story, at first I didn't really see the dirt. And I think it's right that we don't see the dirt. You Know, we look past the dirt, we don't see the humiliation or the lack of dignity. We see the precious costly worship.
[00:23:49] And that's right, because we have been conditioned as people who follow Jesus to understand this kingdom paradox.
[00:23:57] That dignity and royalty in the Kingdom of God is expressed through undignified service.
[00:24:08] The more undignified and the more humble and the more you're willing to get your your hands dirty for the kingdom of God, the more dignified and the more royal and the more you become, the more you can model how the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords operates. There's a weird flip, there's a weird paradox that happens.
[00:24:31] Jesus showed his glory by how, by touching lepers, by eating with prostitutes and tax collectors and sinners, the kind of mafia men of his time.
[00:24:44] Jesus washed feet.
[00:24:46] He did it on purpose. This is how he showed what leadership is supposed to look like. He put a towel over his arm, he stripped to his tunic and he washed his disciples feet. Not just one of them, but all of them.
[00:24:57] He became the foot washer of the team because that is what glory, that is what royalty, that is what leadership, that is what being the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven looks like.
[00:25:09] And then he washed humanity with the most humiliating, degrading death anyone could ever experience.
[00:25:18] So held up as a curse in the eyes of the Israelite, held up as a criminal in the eyes of Rome, bleeding, naked, exposed, dripping with the spit of those who couldn't stand him. An off scouring, a rejection from his people.
[00:25:37] That is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That is what it looks like to be royal, a royal priesthood.
[00:25:45] In the Kingdom of God there is a paradox.
[00:25:49] So in the kingdom the greatest is the servant of all. It's an upside down kingdom. No job is class too undignified or too dirty when done unto the Lord.
[00:26:07] The Lord is looking for believers who are willing to get their hands and hair dirty in order to demonstrate his glory.
[00:26:15] I believe the Lord is still scouring the earth looking for people saying hey, are you willing to get really amongst it?
[00:26:23] Really dirty, really undignified to demonstrate my glory.
[00:26:28] Heidi Baker is a great example.
[00:26:31] Another one from my podcast, Binge Listening.
[00:26:36] She was on this podcast and she was talking about the early years before she was in the north in Mozambique, where she's kind of largely based or has been largely based for the majority of her ministry. When she first was called to Mozambique, she was in the south for a while in a place called Maputo.
[00:26:53] And she spent eight years when Roland and Heidi first Got there looking after the children. There was just tons and tons of children that needed caring for her. So she got amongst that. So from where she was living to where a lot of the children were, she had to drive every day. And she drove past this rubbish dump. And one day the Holy Spirit said, heidi, I want you to go into the rubbish dump. I want you to stop here. I've got something for you.
[00:27:15] So she stopped the car and she went into this rubbish dump. And she was just moving through the rubbish dump, and all of a sudden, this man ran out of nowhere, grabbed her and pinned her to the ground and started shouting in her face and throttling her and saying, white woman, this is my rubbish dump. You cannot have my rubbish. This rubbish is not for you. It's for me. You do not belong here. You cannot have my rubbish.
[00:27:39] She's terrified because he's also under the influence. He's high on something or other or drunk or whatever. He's not himself.
[00:27:47] And so she admits she's a little bit scared. She's lying there pinned down and hair in the dirt on the rubbish dump. And this guy is angry with her, and he wants to kill her.
[00:27:57] And so she's there, and she's like, holy Spirit, what do I do? And what she felt she needed to ask him. He said, no, no, you don't understand. I'm here. I need your help. I want you to help me.
[00:28:08] And the man said, what do you mean, you want me to help you? She said, I need your help. I need your help. I want you to help me. And thankfully, most human beings, when they're asked for help, are disarmed.
[00:28:17] And they're like, oh, okay, well, there's no conflict here. That's fine. And this guy just said, you want me to help you? And she said, yes. He said, okay. He dropped the broken bottle that he had to her throat and helped her up. And they began a conversation.
[00:28:34] This man became a real friend of Heidi and Roland. It turns out this man basically knows everybody in that part of Maputo.
[00:28:43] He's also a man that's kind of feared by most people in that part of town. And he took it upon himself to become her personal protection.
[00:28:52] So anyone that had issues with Roland and Heidi, he'd send a little message to say, leave them alone. They're with me. And then they had protection for the whole eight years they were working in that part of town. So they ministered and did life on that rubbish dump for eight years.
[00:29:08] Heidi had the privilege of marrying this guy.
[00:29:12] He found A wife fell in love, she married them, and they had a whole huge local wedding just outside the rubbish dump.
[00:29:23] It was amazing. The presence of Jesus was stunning. And loads and loads and loads of people came to a saving knowledge of Jesus in that area.
[00:29:33] But what a beautiful example, quite a terrifying example of being willing to get your hair dirty for Jesus.
[00:29:41] There's something about when we put ourselves out there and we say, look, I don't know why I'm here, but I'm willing to go. This isn't necessarily a place I choose to retire to, but actually if you're calling me there, I want to go. It's when we say yes, even though it's going to be filthy and dirty and smelly and uncomfortable and with people that maybe we wouldn't choose to hang out with, that's when the Lord really begins to move and we start to see God at work in great power. And the kingdom advances with tremendous power.
[00:30:12] So the majesty of Jesus can be revealed in a rubbish dump in West Africa or anywhere else on this planet is an undesirable place as long as someone is willing to get their hair dirty for Jesus.
[00:30:27] If you're interested in those kind of stories and being inspired by those kind of stories, yes, there's this podcast. There's also a great book, Pete Gregg, Dirty Glory. Has anyone read that? Yes, there's another fan, Dirty Glory. Pete Gregg. Great summer reading. When you go on holiday and you're by the pool, you won't regret it. Get that one. Great stories, but I'm really drawn, really attracted to the undignified underbelly of church ministry. You ask me, what's your favorite kind of ministry? I say, I'm a backstreet preacher.
[00:31:00] I want to be in the middle of nowhere amongst people that know that they are worthless to society, ascribing the greatest possible worth I can, which is why I'm speaking to you guys today.
[00:31:14] Yeah, give me the people who know they need Jesus any day of the week.
[00:31:21] So that's the first thing she was willing to get her hair dirty for Jesus. Second thing that this woman had in Luke 7 is that she had the ability to give her everything, all that she had. There's a very, very high chance that this expensive jar of perfume was her financial security.
[00:31:42] It could have either been a tool of her trade in which she would fragrance her room, where she plied her trade, if she was a sex worker, or it may have been the little bit of wealth that she had amassed for herself, basically her pension plan.
[00:32:02] There was no Such thing as pension plans. In those days, you had to have a buried nest egg somewhere to draw from, something you could sell later in life that might just get you through the last years.
[00:32:12] This might have been her alabaster jar pension plan that she took, broke and poured out over Jesus. This is all she had to live on.
[00:32:23] That makes her a little bit like the widow that gave the two copper coins in the temple. You know, who gave everything she had to live on. Jesus said she gave more than everybody else. Even though people were chucking in bags of gold coins, they were like they're giving from their excess, they're giving their 2% from their estate or whatever. This woman's giving everything she's got for her next meal. This woman gave tons more than everybody else. It's like that. It's that kind of sacrifice. You all know that sacrifice and giving is not measured in how much you give, but how much you retain for yourself, Right?
[00:33:01] It's measured in how much you're willing to live without, not how much you're willing to skim off the top.
[00:33:10] That's what the Lord sees. Because it's when we start giving from a costly place that it comes from the heart.
[00:33:18] So this woman gave the kind of offering that you can only give when you're in real covenant with God, when you know that you and God are in this life together, sharing everything.
[00:33:33] This woman has had an encounter with Jesus that has redefined her whole life.
[00:33:40] He's ascribed dignity and worth to her that she thought she would never experience in this life.
[00:33:46] He's touched her life in such a way that she now owes everything to Jesus.
[00:33:52] Before she was blind, now she can see. Before she was lost, now she is found. Before she was just maybe a used poet person in the community. Now she is a daughter of the living God and she has nothing to lose.
[00:34:07] She knows that Jesus loves her and she knows that Jesus will not only restore her, but provide for her in the future. And so she pours out her everything. She is so overwhelmed with love for what Jesus has done for her.
[00:34:20] It's not a problem, Jesus, you can have it. It's yours. She gives her everything.
[00:34:27] It takes real trust and devotion to release everything to him.
[00:34:32] But it's how Jesus himself lives. She's caught something of Jesus life himself.
[00:34:38] Jesus didn't have a nest egg either.
[00:34:41] Jesus didn't have a position of wealth.
[00:34:46] He trusted his father for absolutely everything.
[00:34:50] And then he lived to serve the person in front of him. He poured himself out on everybody that he met. Person after person after person and left the future to the Lord.
[00:35:00] So there's something in Jesus that she has seen. There is something in the covenant that Jesus has with his Father that she's like, right, I'm involved with that now.
[00:35:08] I'm following Jesus. I'm part of that whole covenantal life. I do not need to hold back.
[00:35:14] I can share everything.
[00:35:17] So Jesus sees this same quality in this woman, this same trust, this same devotion, and it moves him. It moves him. It's a bit like with the centurion.
[00:35:30] Finally, somebody gets it, somebody has seen it, somebody has had this revelation of the Spirit and they are starting to act it, they're starting to live it, they're starting to align their lives with the truth of the kingdom of God. And it moves him.
[00:35:43] I think this idea of pouring out generous gifts to God and doing something physical and costly to God.
[00:35:50] I learned this intuitively by the Holy Spirit. When I first became a believer when I was 17, the Lord wonderfully saved me out of what could have been quite a destructive culture.
[00:36:03] I had some brilliant mates, beautiful mates, but it was a bit of a stoner type community.
[00:36:10] Let's just say we had a perennial weed problem in our friendship group and. And some of them were moving on to more Class A drugs. I managed to lose six friends in my extended friendship group, growing up to either suicide or wrapping their cars around trees while they were high.
[00:36:34] One of them broke his neck.
[00:36:37] Several of them were on lifelong medication for mental health disorders that were drug induced.
[00:36:44] So thankfully I got out of that before it got serious, while we were just dabbling around in the foothills of drug abuse.
[00:36:52] But part of that whole culture came with a soundtrack.
[00:36:58] There's music that goes along with that whole culture. And when I got saved, I stayed friends with all these people because they're the people I wanted to be friends with. Still are the sort of people I like to be friends with.
[00:37:10] But there was a part of me that needed to be set apart, to be separate. And I remember one day when I was just head over heels in love with God. I used to do these long walks into Tewkesbury from where I lived in Twinning, down this river path, about an hour and a half to get into town. I used to prefer to walk so that I could chat to God along the way, because I was so into talking with the Lord. And along the way I said, lord, what can I do for you?
[00:37:34] That would be a blessing.
[00:37:35] And I had this inspired idea that I would just get all my CDs that were the soundtrack to that whole world and just bin them.
[00:37:45] Fantastic music, but just to grab them all and bin them. And I literally. I was halfway down the tow park. I turned around, walked home to go and get my CDs and put them in the bin. I thought, I can't go into Tewksbury to see my mates until I've done this. So I turned immediately, went straight back, grabbed all the CDs that I thought, well, actually, these are all part of that whole world. Put them in the bin. As I put them in the bin, literally, as I shut the wheelie, bit lid, and it went thump. Just felt this joy erupt in my heart. And I walked into Tewkesbury six inches off the ground. Just this strong sense of covenant with God. Like, my future is wide open. I can do anything with God because we're like that, me and Jesus. There was a tremendous sense of joy.
[00:38:32] So I want to ask you, when was the last time you just did something extravagant and out of the box for Jesus just because you were inspired to do so?
[00:38:46] This isn't a guilt trip.
[00:38:48] This is just the start of a nice conversation, start of a beautiful idea. Okay. When was the last time you just did something because you felt God say, why don't you do this for me? Me and you went out of your way to do something.
[00:39:04] It's a tremendous invitation if you sense the spirit saying to do that.
[00:39:08] It's an amazing thing. The last time I felt the Lord say that to me, I was sitting roughly where you are, Alice, in this church.
[00:39:18] I had some money coming to me because I planned a midlife crisis which involved motorcycles. Right. Anyone else got a carefully planned midlife crisis?
[00:39:31] When I was approaching 40, I was just, you know, thinking how I might go into my 40s. And I thought, you know, I've always wanted to get my full bike license. So I went and got my full bike license. And I absolutely love riding motorcycles. It's sort of become, you know, part of a little bit of who I am. I just love it. It's just the feeling of being on two wheels. It's that kind of visceral.
[00:39:54] The smell and the sound and the vulnerability and just how heightened your senses are when you're going around the road. You seem to perceive everything in, like, Technicolor and super fast.
[00:40:05] And you come back. I get off a bike, and I feel like about two weeks of stress has just left me. Some riders say that therapy is expensive, but wind is cheap.
[00:40:16] They call it their therapist.
[00:40:18] It's an amazing thing. It's a great de stressor. Anyway, I happened to have an accident on my bike about, I don't know, a year ago or something where I was stationary and somebody rear ended my bike.
[00:40:27] And this is a miracle story, I'll tell you. So I'm sat there, somebody turning right in front of me, I'm about three meters behind, very gradual stop, all very safe.
[00:40:38] And the guy in the massive Mitsubishi Outlander behind me who'd been admiring my motorcycle and thinking that's like a neo classic and it's beautifully clean, well maintained. I remember those when I was a kid, he'd come quite close to check out my bike and then got distracted with what a tractor was doing in the lane.
[00:40:57] Hadn't seen that we'd stopped and then squeeched on his brakes last minute and managed to hit the back of my bike. My bike flew out from underneath me about six metres and landed in the hedge. The whole back end of the bike bent up 90 degrees about this high. Once I stood the bike up because it had just come up like that and I stayed on my feet, bumper there about an inch off my spine.
[00:41:26] Whoa. What just happened? It all happened so fast. It was just like bang, bike on.
[00:41:33] And all I had was like a little bruise on the back of my leg where the foot peg had just clipped my leg as it went.
[00:41:41] So protected.
[00:41:45] So that happened.
[00:41:48] I had insurance money coming back from the bike and I was already on Facebook Marketplace.
[00:41:55] I've got a little bit of money coming in, what am I going to get? And I'd shortlisted about 20 bikes and out of that there's about three that I really thought that would be amazing. I'll go for that one. And out of that there was one I thought, I'm going there first. And I was excited. But you know what insurance money can be like. Sometimes it can take forever.
[00:42:12] So this money took months and months and months to come through. So I'm scrolling for months. I'm wasting an embarrassing amount of time imagining what bike I might get once the money comes through.
[00:42:24] I'm sure nobody can relate.
[00:42:26] But anyway, it was getting to the point where it was all finalized. I had a letter from the list solicitor saying the money was coming.
[00:42:32] I thought it's probably going to arrive within the next 10 days and then I can go out and get another bike. Very exciting, like Christmas coming. And then I'm sat roughly where you are in the worship and I'm saying, lord, what can I give you?
[00:42:44] And I felt like they were saying, I want you to Release that money for your bike.
[00:42:48] And I was like, what else? Can I give you anything else, Lord?
[00:42:55] And then it was like, no, no, no. I want you to release that money.
[00:43:00] That maybe had become a bit of an idol. Started to get a little bit too front and center in my life. Maybe I've been getting a little bit obsessed about that money coming through. And, you know, I started to organize my life around making sure I get that bike as soon as I can.
[00:43:14] And just like, lord, you're gonna have to confirm this.
[00:43:20] So I was.
[00:43:23] I said, in principle, yes, but I just need to know this isn't me just being really emotional right now and in an act of worship, wanting to do something stupid. Lord, just show me.
[00:43:34] So anyway, throughout the course of that morning, as this worship went on, I remember Matt was leading worship. It was a stunning time of worship. And as I was just in God's prayer, it's just this rising feeling of conviction. That's exactly what I want you to do. Aid came, and I thought, you know what? If I don't write it down in my journal now, by the time I get home, I might have accidentally on purpose, forgotten about this.
[00:43:55] So I wrote it down in my journal while I was sat right there and said, I think the Lord is asking me to release this money and just submit this whole thing to him.
[00:44:05] And I did.
[00:44:07] And I told Mary as well when I got home that this is what I felt the Lord had said.
[00:44:12] I think she said something along the lines of, yes, the Lord me told me that a while ago.
[00:44:21] I dutifully did it. But I said there was a joy that I came out of that service with. There was a boldness that I came out of that service with, that feeling of being set apart and submitted. And this is not just lip service we're playing with here, but this is actually the stuff that really affects our hearts. And when you've laid everything down again and put your whole life back on the altar, you climb off that altar and you are untouchable.
[00:44:45] I am now walking with Jesus in a way that is tangible to me.
[00:44:50] Lord, show me where you want me. I know you're with me.
[00:44:53] There is something that comes in. There is a confidence of the spirit that comes in when you are fully submitted to God.
[00:45:00] And that is worth 10 motorcycles.
[00:45:03] I mean, don't get me wrong, like the kid at the beginning that had the £50 back, I'm up for that.
[00:45:08] If the Lord wants to give me a bike back, I'm well up for that.
[00:45:13] But I want the Feeling of radically walking with Christ more than anything else.
[00:45:18] And it is honestly, there is no better way to live. It gives you such a sense of joy and passion when you do this.
[00:45:32] A life set free to follow Jesus.
[00:45:36] When the cry of your heart is, take the world, but give me Jesus. The enemy has no hold on you anymore.
[00:45:44] You have nothing to lose. Your fears diminish and striving calms down.
[00:45:51] Jesus said, those who wish to save their lives will lose them. But those who let go of their lives for. For my sake, we'll find them.
[00:46:03] I want to speak to the teens and the young adults in the room.
[00:46:07] This is the best careers advice you will ever get. Okay?
[00:46:14] Give your whole lives to Jesus.
[00:46:17] Give your whole futures to Jesus. Give your careers to Jesus. Submit your whole future to God. If you want to be fulfilled, if you want to reach your potential and a potential that you haven't even begun to imagine yet, if you want to be part of something way bigger than yourself, if you want to live your life with a profound sense of purpose, you will only find that by giving your life to Jesus, you will never reach the top of that ladder on your own. You will never find fulfillment like that just by trying to prove yourself to the world, because it will never give you enough.
[00:47:00] But if you truly say, God, this is me and all of me have everything that I am.
[00:47:06] Now show me, Lord, how can I live in your purposes? What must I do next? I guarantee the Lord will give you an adventure that would be the best possible version for your life. And you will reach the end of your day saying, I wouldn't change a single thing, because every step of the way, to the best of my ability, I've followed Jesus. And when you finish your race and you meet him face to face, your banner will have been clear. Your life will have been clear. You will be able to look him in the eye and say, thank you for this journey you've taken me on. It's been a wild ride, but I've loved it.
[00:47:41] Warts and all, scars and all. It's the best way to live your life. Let the Holy Spirit be your career director and you will find life.
[00:47:53] So the woman in our story was inspired to do something magnificent for Jesus, something that echoed through the millennia.
[00:48:00] When you've tasted life offered fully to him, you too will be able to do extraordinary things.
[00:48:09] Nothing else compares.
[00:48:10] You can step off the treadmill of having to prove yourself.
[00:48:15] You can be free of taking sole responsibility for your security and prosperity.
[00:48:21] And therefore you can take risks based upon his Faithfulness.
[00:48:28] And you can do it with the call of the Spirit ringing in your hearts.
[00:48:33] It's a little scary, but it's the only way to a life of miracles with Him.
[00:48:38] So I want to finish this with three prayers, three dangerous prayers.
[00:48:45] Prayers that are only worth praying if you're willing to level up in your trust with Jesus.
[00:48:54] So maybe, Ben, would you mind coming to play?
[00:48:58] Would that be all right?
[00:49:02] Thank you.
[00:49:05] Because we're just going to bring our lives before God.
[00:49:11] Just center ourselves. Go from listening to the preacher mode to listening directly to Jesus mode. Just quiet in your hearts before the Lord.
[00:49:27] First prayer. I want to pray before we do break into communion. Got three prayers. First prayer I want to pray is for those who feel called to get their hair dirty for Jesus.
[00:49:40] When I was talking about going into the darker places, going into the ugly places, going into where life is hard, if that spoke to you, then I want to encourage you to stand. And I'm going to pray for you.
[00:50:00] Wonderful.
[00:50:03] So for those of you who feel called to get your hair dirty for Jesus, here's the prayer. Father, teach me kingdom dignity through undignified service.
[00:50:18] Lead me to the lost and to the last and to the least.
[00:50:23] Show me the rubbish dump where I can serve.
[00:50:28] I offer myself to get my hands and hair dirty that I may bless you and see others raised up and become precious sons and daughters.
[00:50:39] Thank you, Lord.
[00:50:43] Lord, and now for those who feel called to a deeper covenant with God to be free to let go of stuff. When God says, let go, if that's you, if that spoke to you, I want that level of freedom to be able to let go whenever he calls. I encourage you to stand. I'm going to pray for you, and you can make this prayer your own.
[00:51:10] Father, I give you permission to call me deeper into trust and into open sharing in my life.
[00:51:18] I give you permission to inspire me unto spontaneous, costly sacrifice, whatever that may look like for me.
[00:51:29] Show me what I am holding onto that I need to let go of.
[00:51:34] Show me what I can offer to you that will lead me into a deeper experience of covenant with you and set my life on fire for serving you once again.
[00:51:48] Thank you, Lord.
[00:51:51] If you prayed that prayer, that is a dangerous prayer.
[00:51:55] You can ask Abraham.
[00:52:00] And finally, for those of you who would like to offer your future to God and be led by the Spirit in your career decisions and in all the purposes that he has for you, I want to encourage you to stand, if that's you.
[00:52:21] Let's pray.
[00:52:22] Father, you have made it clear that whoever wishes to save their life will lose it. But whoever is willing to give their life and invest their life for your sake will find it.
[00:52:38] I dare to trust you in this.
[00:52:41] I offer my life to you, my ambitions, my hopes, my required lifestyle, my plans.
[00:52:52] And I place my future on the altar. And I ask you that you do what you want with it. I am yours as I offer my all.
[00:53:05] And I commit to follow your lead.
[00:53:07] Let me feel your freedom, your delight, and that new sense of renewed confidence for this adventure with you and all God's people said amen.
