It's my great privilege this morning to introduce to you David Stoddard. David and his wife, Eowyn, serve with Mission to the World in Europe. David is the international director for Mission to the World over all of Europe, and it's been a great joy to hear him preach God's Word throughout the weekend, so come and preach one more time. I'd invite you to turn with me to John chapter 12. But before we look at this portion of Scripture together, let's go again before the Lord and ask Him to open our eyes. Would you pray with me? Thank you, O our Father. for sending us your Son and leaving the Spirit on earth until your work is done. Holy Spirit, we turn to you now and ask that you would do what you have done throughout all ages, and that is hold forth the Messiah to your people. We ask that you would open our eyes to behold the beauty, the majesty, the glory of Christ in an uncompromising, unswervingly, unmistakably beautiful way that is peerless and powerful so that we are changed. Help the one who teaches For he needs your help desperately and help all of us now who listen to understand and be changed. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. John chapter 12. We're going to look at the first eight verses together. This is the word of the Lord. Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there, Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it. Jesus said, leave her alone. so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you will always have with you, but you do not always have me." Thus ends the reading of God's word and we confess together, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. One of my favorite European movies is called La Vita è Bella, Life is Beautiful. It's a story of Guido Orefici, a Jewish-Italian waiter whose sense of humor charms the woman who becomes his wife and protects his son from the horrors of the Holocaust in World War II. But it's not a typical Holocaust film like Schindler's List. Rather, it's a mix of comedy, romance, drama, and adventure. And Guido is portrayed as crazy, Much of the movie, but it's very clear to all those watching, he's one of the only people who is sane in a world gone mad. So when school teachers gather to teach on the virtues of Aryan supremacy, Guido poses as an Aryan, but begins to show from his Jewish body that we're all fearfully and wonderfully made. He's courageous. charming, zany, but his irrepressible joy makes him lovable. And one of the main messages from the movie is this, in a world gone mad, Guido lives a beautiful life. A man committed to his wife passionately, a father who is willing to lay down his life, a man who is willing to do anything to keep them alive. And all that with irrepressible joy. And although it's a movie set in the midst of brokenness and suffering, it refuses to allow suffering to replace the joy as the core motivation to live. And here's one of my main takeaways from the film. I love it because it depicts joy as the deepest reality of the universe and suffering and death as the intruder. Life is beautiful because there is an artist, and underneath the world, in all its beauty, in all its tragedy, there is a pulsating heart of love and joy. I want us to look at a chapter in Scripture, a portion of Scripture, in which John focuses our attention on two people. One who lives a beautiful life. One a wasted life. One who lives, the other who dies. One who is given little but lives for much. The other who's given much but does so little with it. One who takes advantage of the opportunities they're given. One who wastes opportunity after opportunity. One who is accused of being wasteful but is actually lives for something supremely valuable. The other who steals something valuable and is heralded as heroic. Here's what the question I want you to hold in the forefront of your mind as we compare these two lives. Are you spending the capital of your life on that which is most beautiful and supremely worthy, or are you headed down a path of investing your life in a stock that's bound to crash? So look at the path of the wasted life, and then we're gonna look at the path of the beautiful life. First, let's look at the path of the wasted life. It's characterized by wasted opportunities and resources. Look at the wasted opportunities. One of the things that we learn from Judas is that position and privilege do not guarantee a meaningful life. Think about it. 12 men were given the opportunity to spend three intimate years with Jesus, and it bore tremendous fruit in the lives of 11 of them. Through 11 of them, a missionary movement began which changed the Roman world within 30 years. Their lives bore fruit as they wrote gospels and epistles. Their ministries bore fruit through their leadership in the planting of churches. And then there was Judas. We don't know much about him, but we do know a lot about what he heard and saw in the three years that he spent with Jesus. He saw Jesus calm the storm on a boat, and he fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes. Judas heard Jesus tell the parable about a treasure that's hidden in a field, and when a man realized it's there, he sold everything that he had. And with joy he bought it. He was there when Jesus told about a pearl of such value that a merchant sold everything in order to obtain it. He was given the power to cast out demons and call people to repent. That should humble us. Judas reminds us that it's possible to have experienced the supernatural, have extraordinary gifts, go to church all your life, teach Sunday school, be given power in ministry, and yet lack saving grace. So one of the questions that we should ask ourselves when we examine Judas's life is this, are we leveraging the resources that we gain from being near Christ in order to build our kingdoms, in order that Christ, where we're actually still a king, or are we surrendering our resources in order that Christ is worshiped as king? It's hard not to look at his life and think, his position and privilege, his proximity to Jesus bore no fruit. What a waste. But look, secondly, it wasted resources. Look at verse six. We don't know the motives of his heart, but we do know he was a thief. He was obsessed with money and lining his pockets when he had the chance. And perhaps at first his motives were mixed. Imagine the scene where the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and Jesus says to him, sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Well, I imagine Judas listening to this and he goes, wow, just think of that. I mean, wow, what would happen if the rich man really did sell all that he had? Just think what we could do with that. Just think of the church planting movement we can start with that sort of startup capital. We don't know his motives, but we do know they're mixed. Judas was there. When Jesus preached Matthew 624, no one can serve two masters, for either he'll hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. But that message had little impact on his life. At some point, money became more important to Judas than Jesus was. We don't know when, but we do know that that change in devotion was gradual enough that no one seems to have noticed it. Let me apply this. A wasted life rarely sneaks up and ambushes any of us. It comes through the small decisions that we make along the way to value something more than we do Jesus. It's the job you take because you get better pay and benefits, not because it helps you live more evangelistically. It's the bigger home you buy, not because it's in the area that needs to hear about Jesus, but because you want something quieter and more comfortable. It's the relationship you start, not because you think, wow, together we can serve Christ. Rather, I kind of like the way they serve me. The hardening of his heart began with the breaking of one commandment, thou shalt not steal. But unconfessed sin hardens our hearts over time, why? Because sin grows like a cancer in us, and unless we expose it to a radiation which kills it, and scripture calls that radiation Grace. We'll come back to that later. When we don't confess sin, our love for that thing grows in us until it crowds out all other loves. That's why Paul exhorts his church in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. After decades of ministry, one of the things that I have learned is that one of the enemy's chief tactics, greatest strategies is to get us to live an unexamined life. To keep us medicated with hobbies and entertainment so that we never pause long enough to ask deep questions. For example, is Christ's law your standard or is it just an ideal? Like in the garden, Satan constantly whispers to us to say, you know, did God really say? I mean, wasn't that just an ideal? I'll give you ones I've struggled with over the years. Don't let sun go down in your anger. I think that's an ideal. Let no unwholesome talk come in out of your mouth. Well, that's a good goal to work towards. Get rid of all bitterness, do all things with grumbling and complaining. Wait a second, I've got a right to get angry. I mean, you gotta complain sometimes, right? As you examine your life, how do you find yourself turning God's standards into ideals? Judas' devotion slowly changed over time, and it proved to be wasteful devotion because in the end, He got exactly what he wanted and lost everything important. Let's turn now to the path to the beautiful life. Verses one and two, we learn it's shaped by gratitude. Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner there. Martha served, Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. And Matthew, if you read the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew adds this detail. The dinner took place at Simon the leper's house. Think about the dinner guests for a minute. It's a table set for friends who have experienced the extraordinary grace and power of God. I just imagine the joy, the laughter in that room had to have been contagious. Think about it, Simon had been cut off from friends for years because of a disease and now he's healed and he can sit with friends and enjoy the wonder of food. He was cut off from God's house, the temple, and he now sits in Simon's house with the great high priest. Lazarus cut off from life. He was dead but raised to life. And again, the people weeping for joy the loudest would have been Mary and Martha. You see, sitting at that table are two living and breathing recipients of Jesus' resurrection power. the power to heal all diseases, the power to restore broken communities, the power to triumph over death. And I imagine Mary just sitting there, observing all this, seeing the smiles, the joy, the laughter, and waiting, waiting for the right moment to show how thankful she is to Jesus. You see, Jesus had wept tears of sorrow with her at Lazarus grave and wept tears of joy with her when he walked out on two feet. Not only that, if you remember that scene, Jesus said something to her, which probably transformed her life. John 11 verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, he yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Mary believed, and not only did Jesus bring a dear friend back from the grave, he's promising the same will happen to her one day, only better. How do people experience you? Negative, critical, focused largely on the brokenness of the world. Look at your podcast list. What's the general message and theme that runs through those? Or is your joy so contagious because you live out of an immense gratitude of what Christ has done and with confident hope of what he's doing and will do. Secondly, the beautiful life is prone to extravagant sacrifice. Look at verse three. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Some believe this is a family heirloom. It was never meant to be opened. Others believe it was an expensive ointment, pure nard that came from, an exotic nard that probably came from India. It was just intended to pass on from generation to generation. Did you know, I love chat GPT, did you know that there are perfumes today worth over $1,800 per ounce? Jenpatoo Joy takes 28 dozen roses, over 10,000 jasmine flowers to make one single bottle. Only five are made per year, and if you want to buy a 16-ounce bottle, it'll set you back $30,000. Gentlemen, you have a bit of time before Valentine's Day next year. We don't have to wonder how much Mary's bottle cost. Judas tells us in verse five, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii? It's just short of a year's wages. How much do you earn in a year? Would you purchase a flask of perfume for that amount? And if so, for what occasion? Or to whom would you give that flask? You see, for Mary, it was the value of the perfume which made what she did profoundly worthwhile. For Judas, it was the value of the perfume which made her actions incredibly ludicrous. But Mary's actions were the expression of how much Jesus was worth it to her. Her actions said what she struggled to say in words. What's the most valuable thing you own? What's the most valuable thing you have? Your time, your children, your house, your reputation? Would you be willing to give them up because Jesus is worth it? Meaning you'd rearrange your time so that you could serve in the church, you could invest in others, or even serve in the community. You'd be willing to use your house as an open house to welcome guests in order to tell them about Jesus. You'd be willing to give up the security of your community in order to serve in a corner of the world where people don't have access to the gospel. Or you'd be willing to send your kids there knowing you're not gonna be at every grandkid's birthday party. Look at verse seven and eight. You should notice this. Jesus says, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you'll always have with you, but you do not always have me. Please notice this. Mary is the most astute theologian in the room, barring Jesus. Jesus had already said in Matthew chapter 26 to his disciples, you know that after two days, the Passover is coming. The son of man will be delivered up and crucified. This was Passover week. Jesus was about ready to die. And Mary seems to be the only one who was listening most carefully. And the gravity of his impending death weighs on her. And as far as we can tell, the disciples are just generally in denial. So Mary broke a flask of significant worth and poured it out on the body about ready to be broken for her. She grasped the urgency of the moment and seized that moment to express lavish love on Jesus while he was still there. Before the punishing hands of the Roman soldiers were to drag him away, she wanted to take hold of him and anoint him. Here's the point. If you don't remember anything else from this sermon, wake up and listen to this. Costly devotion to Jesus is never wasted. There is nothing that you can give that out gives the grace of Jesus. There is no sacrifice that you can make to surpass the greatest sacrifice that he's made to surpass his worth. We can never give too much of ourselves, our time, our money, our attention, our affection, for he is worthy. We get a glimpse of a heavenly worship service in Revelation 5, in which the saints are gathered in glory, and together around the throne they sing, worthy are you, Jesus, to take the scroll and open its seals. That's just code to say, Jesus, you're the one to enact all the promises of God. Since the beginning of time, you were worthy to do that. And then it continues, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. That's the hymn going on in glory right now. Whatever it costs you to take hold of Jesus, to trust in his death and resurrection, it is worth it. Let me summarize, Jesus is inviting us to take, to place Judas and Mary side by side. Judas uses Jesus for personal gain. Mary worships Jesus at personal loss. Judas wants a comfortable life. Mary wants to surrender all she has that's been given to her by him. So which do you identify with? When you look at your time, your talent, your treasures, which way do you live? Most of us don't live in such extravagant ways all at once. You see the sacrifice in the faithful weekly teaching of second graders in Sunday school. You see it in the faithful sacrifice of those who take in foster kids. You see it in the daily sacrifice of changing diapers or monthly visits to the widows and shut-ins. When we love other people who Christ has made, we love Christ. The cost for some is made in losing a set of friends because you won't do drugs, because you'll lose a boyfriend because you won't sleep with them. You lose a job because you refuse to cheat on the books. And sometimes I find that Christianity is peddled like this, come to Jesus and he'll make all your problems go away. You get healthy, people will like you, you'll get the spouse you longed for, you'll get the kids you longed for, you'll get promoted, and generally life's gonna get better and better, more comfortable and easier. That is not what Jesus promises. If you believe in Jesus to get the life you want, you're not following Jesus, you're just investing. And here's how you know the difference. When you don't get what you want, your marriage doesn't turn out like you thought, your kids don't turn out like you thought, your church doesn't turn out like you thought, your pastor doesn't turn out like you thought, you get angry. You get angry with Jesus and you become a victim of the hand you've been dealt. And it shows that we haven't taken a hold of Christ, but we've created a personalized version of Jesus and we've worshiped that. So what would move us from the path, move us to follow the path of the beautiful life and not the wasted life? My answer is simple. Extravagant mercy. Jesus' extravagant mercy for you. You see, Christianity will make little sense to you unless you realize that Jesus' mercy is real to you. Look brief, I'd love, I want us to look very briefly at Matthew 26 and 27 and Luke 22. You don't have to turn there, but both of those are parallel accounts to this story and its conclusion. You see in Matthew 27, verses one to six, we read, then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind, brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, what's that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed and he went and hanged himself. You see, Judas' money-loving conscience overwhelmed him, and he wanted so desperately to come clean. He wanted someone to cleanse his guilty soul. So he goes to the place, and he goes to the people whose job it was to make people clean after they had sinned. He goes to the mediators of mercy. He goes to the priests of the temple. But you see, those priests are just as guilty as he. He found no mercy, just condemnation and guilt. But what he sought in corrupt priests, he would only find in Jesus, the true priest in temple. There are at least two points. I don't know if you ever argue back at movies. Do you do that? I do. But there are two points in this story where I find myself, I just find myself shouting at Judas. Judas. This is your chance. Here's your chance. You see, Jesus is offering you a chance to come clean, a chance for a full pardon, a chance to experience the effects of extravagant grace and mercy. Matthew 26, 25, Jesus says to his disciples, one of you will betray me. And everyone looked at Judas in that moment and said, no. You remember what the text says? I find this remarkable. You would think if you're filming a movie, the camera would just focus right in on Judas. But you remember what the text says? Every single one of the disciples said, is it me? They all recognize the power of sin in their own lives, and they realize none of them were above treachery. When Judas turns to Jesus and says, is it I? Jesus says, you've said so. That's when I start screaming, Judas, here's your chance. Come clean, confess. He knows the depth of your sin more than you, and he's more ready to forgive than you're ready to confess. Remember, Judas, Jesus has just washed your feet. There are no links that he will not go to, to lay down his life in order that you're forgiven. Do you remember Judas, what he said about the washing of feet? It's not just a symbolic gesture that he does for us on the outside, but what he promises to do to us on the inside. But Judas doesn't repent. The second scene is Luke's account, Luke 22, when Judas comes to betray Jesus, and Jesus asks him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? You remember that scene in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus spent three years walking with him, investing in him, loving him, and before, if you remember this scene, before Judas steps forward to betray Jesus, Jesus steps forward to offer himself to Judas first. There was no need for Judas to identify Jesus, for Jesus identifies himself as the one willing to lay down his life for him. And some theologians call, some theologians see this as Jesus' last plea from Psalm 2 verse 12, kiss the son lest he be angry. In other words, kiss him in worship, not betrayal. It would have been a kiss which would have saved him from living a wasted life. But please don't miss this. It was not Judas' betrayal or suicide that was unforgivable. It was his refusal to accept the grace of God in the personal work of Jesus. Jesus' blood was innocent, his sacrifice costly and of great value to us. And Peter writes this, his blood's ransomed us. We're not ransomed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. In other words, his sacrifice on the cross for guilty sinners like us is not a waste. I mean, listen, when you take the New Testament, all that it says about Jesus' blood and sacrifice, quick survey, it justifies, it redeems, it forgives, it brings us near to God, it purifies our consciences, it sanctifies us, it cleanses us from all sin, it frees us from all sin, it ransoms people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Let me close with this. The point of this chapter is not that you think, okay, I think I understand what the preacher's saying, I need to be more like Mary, less like Judas, got it. She led a beautiful life, he led a wasted life. No, no, no, no, please, please don't think that. The point of this text is that we see the most beautiful life ever lived. You see, in a world gone mad, Jesus steps in to pursue and protect his bride. That's us. regardless of the cost. He isn't just willing, he actually lays down his life for us so that the tyranny of evil and death doesn't have the last word in our lives. Jesus' life and death on the cross for us shows that his deepest joy, the deepest reality of the universe is his joy, and suffering and death is the intruder. Life is beautiful because there is an artist and he's shown us that underneath all the world, it's beauty and tragedy, there is a pulsating heart of love and joy. The shedding of his blood is the most extravagant demonstration of love ever. Nothing, nothing done in response to that will ever be wasted. I close with this. Listen to the way Isaac Watts puts it. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God, all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. And were the whole realm of nature mine, that present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, we will never see and understand the beauty of Jesus unless you help us. Would you take these words, plant them deep inside of us so that it bear fruits, and we begin to look at all that we've been given and ask one question. How do we give it away to the glory of your kingdom? In Jesus' name, amen.