Well, we are continuing in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is just a wonderful place to study the Word of God, to see the Gospel. John's a master storyteller. He tells this story. He proclaims this Gospel in such beautiful ways. And it is a beloved part of the Scriptures. for all Christians. Many people who you'll hear their testimonies, God has saved them in part by just reading the Gospel of John. Of course, it's all God's Word. It's all precious to us. But John is a special gift. John uses contrasts throughout the Gospel to help explain truth. You see these same kinds of things over and over. Light and darkness. Life and death. Thirsty and fulfilled. dead and alive, blind and seeing. Over and over, these kinds of contrasts are put into our face. But sometimes, even the situations, as he writes the narrative, he places situations that contrast each other in such a critical way. Often presented as foils, people are seen who are wicked, and then right next to them you see people who are desiring to follow God and who love God. Well, in the previous paragraph that we studied last week, we saw some of the most vile hatred of Jesus. The Pharisees, the leaders of the Jewish people, the teachers of the law, they hear that Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. And their response, rather than to step back and reconsider, maybe Jesus is someone special. Their response is not that at all. Their response is actually a greater desire. A greater desire to kill Him. So we see this vile hatred of God and of His Son and the end of chapter 11. And then we see the exact opposite of that in chapter 12, where we see rather than prideful and cowardly and wicked hatred of God, we see loving kindness and extravagant gifts being made to God. This is John 12. If you'd please open your copy of the Scriptures to John 12. And we'll be reading the first 11 verses of John 12. In honor of God's Holy Word, please stand and hear God's Word for you this morning. 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 about the poor, But because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me. When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, They came, not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. Amen. Please be seated. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will last forever. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You that You condescend to us. You bend down, as it were, and give us Your Word. You give us truth in words that we can understand, but only by the power of Your Spirit. So we pray that Your Spirit would open our eyes, soften our hearts, and that You would speak to Your people. Lord, strike a straight blow with this crooked stick, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, most commentators see this event as the same event that is described also in Matthew 26 and in Mark 14. They describe all three of them. The anointing at Bethany the week before Passover. They all describe the grumbling of the disciples at the great expense of the ointment that's used that should have been given to the poor in their minds. And Jesus in each one of these three accounts links that anointing to the preparation for His own burial. So I agree with most commentators that this really are just three different accounts of the same event. So when you see things like this in the Gospels, and sometimes you will, the crucifixion of Christ or the birth of Christ, you see three or four different accounts of the same thing. You should think of this really like viewing a diamond from different angles, from close up and then from far away, from sunlight and then artificial light, maybe on a setting of gold versus just the diamond laying on a cloth. In each one of these views, you see something different, maybe magnified and then at a distance. Or maybe like the viewing of the replay of some spectacular touchdown or something. You see it from different angles, don't you? They show you up close, they show you the field level, they show you from on top. Slow motion, regular speed, even fast motion. In all of these different perspectives, you're viewing the same event, and it looks slightly different, but it's the exact same occurrence. Well, similarly, we see in the Gospels the same event, this anointing of Jesus, from three different perspectives. And I'm going to really pull from all three of them as we look at what Mary did for Jesus in this particular text. So first things first, we see that John describes the setting. The setting in verse 1. This is six days before the Passover. Six days before Jesus' own death. The Passover marks His own death. He is less than a week from dying. This is what John's telling us. I remember in John 1, John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This was always the plan, that Jesus would die as the Passover Lamb. He's dying on Passover for a reason. Because the Passover itself pointed to Jesus, and always had. Well, you might wonder, how many Passovers had there been? It's once a year. How many times had the Jews done this? It's about 1,500 times. We believe the Passover was first instituted in 1446 B.C. This is probably around 33 A.D. Very close to 1,500 Passovers. Now, there were breaks, of course, in their Passover celebration. But needless to say, for almost 1,500 years, the Jewish people had commemorated their exodus from Egypt, their freedom from slavery, by the Passover. It was the biggest event in the history of the Jewish people. Only replaced by Christ's own death and resurrection for the people of God in importance. So we'll discuss the similarities between Passover and Christ's death and resurrection in much greater detail when we read and study His crucifixion later in this Gospel. But I just want you to remember that all of this was perfectly planned. All of this is taking place in exactly the way it was supposed to. By the One who holds all things in His hands did at that time and does today. There's nothing in history and there's nothing in the future that's uncertain for God. It's all purposeful. It all was ordained to happen in exactly the way it did. He makes no mistakes, brothers and sisters. So even today, be encouraged and give praise to God. So six days before the Passover, this day that had been ordained for the death of Jesus, and for the salvation of the world. Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was raised from the dead. They gave him a big dinner, and Martha is serving them this meal. In the previous chapter, we read that Jesus had gone away. After raising Lazarus from the dead, he left. He went to a remote place called Ephraim. And he's there for some indetermined period of time. But now, the week before Passover, he comes back to Bethany. These are his closest friends, we think, who aren't his own disciples, his own apostles. He comes back to their house and has a meal with them. He's with Mary. with Martha, with Lazarus, these dear friends of his. Now, what a special time this must have been for him. You realize he knows he's going to die. And God gave him this this moment of rest and refreshing before he goes off to accomplish his purpose in life. They were all reclining at the table together, probably the men reclining at the table. This is the Roman tradition of of having a low table, and then you would kind of lay on maybe an elbow with your face close to the table and close to the food, and you'd use a hand and kind of eat one-handed, all kind of reclining together. So this is what we see. Jesus reclining at the table with probably the men of the little village, maybe some of the prominent women as well. But we read that Martha is serving. Martha is doing what Martha does best. Martha is serving. You can imagine this event. Jesus, who she believes is the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus, who raised her brother from the dead. Jesus, whom all of her hope is in, is coming for a meal at their house. Can you imagine, ladies, someone coming to your house who is the man of all man. He's the King of all kings. He's the Savior of the world. and he's coming to your house for supper. You know Martha. She trusts the Lord. She has faith in Christ. But Martha's been doing some work. She's been preparing this meal, probably with other ladies in the village. We don't know exactly. But there was some planning that went into this meal, and we read that Martha is serving. She's serving this man who is dearly loved, dearly respected, the Son of God. She's probably organized every detail of this thing. and she's showing her devotion and her love for Jesus, using all of her gifts to ensure that He's cared for, that He's blessed, and ultimately worshipped. Well, we have Mary and we have Martha. They have different gifts. Both gifts are precious to God. It's not that one gift is more precious than the other. Each one of you have a gift that God has given you as well to serve Him, to serve the church, the body of Christ. Paul tells us that every part of the body is valuable. Mary's not more valuable than Martha, and someone else, I'm not more valuable than you just because I stand and preach. We all have a different purpose in the body. And your purpose is important. Well, Martha had a purpose, and now Mary has a purpose as well. And what she does is shocking. It's shocking. The title of the sermon is A Beautiful Gift. And we read about this beautiful gift in verse 3. 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." This is something that will be talked about forever, Jesus says. In Mark 14, of the same event, He says, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. And in Mark 14.6, he says of this anointing that she has done a beautiful thing to me. She's done a beautiful thing. Well, what is this thing that she did? Why is it so beautiful? What exactly makes it a beautiful thing? We're going to talk about that. I want you to stop and see why this is a beautiful thing. Stop is actually an acronym for the four points I'm going to make. S, we'll see that it's sacrificially extravagant. I had to use some interesting adjectives to make this work. Sacrificially extravagant. Secondly, we'll see that it's thoughtfully complete. Complete meaning it's all that she has. It's thoughtfully complete. The third thing that makes this a beautiful thing is that it's an open declaration of Christ's identity. An open declaration of Christ's identity. And finally, the P, it's a prophetic. It's prophetic to His mission. It says something prophetic about what He's about to do. Well, first let's look at the sacrifice that Mary made. This extravagant sacrifice. A pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard. We see that this is a pound of some of the most rare and precious ointment that could be obtained. Nard or spike nard. It's an aromatic liquid ointment often used in burial. It's like an essential oil where the fragrance just lasts forever. It was grown in India and China and the Himalayas, we believed, which may help explain its expense because that's far away from Palestine. And this is noted by Judas Iscariot to be and the disciples to be worth a year's wages, a year's wages. So imagine this extravagant gift. It's unheard of to take all the money you make in a year and just to pour it on Jesus. Actually, as I was preparing this sermon, a friend of mine who is in the Middle East right now, he knows I like silk rugs. I've never been able to afford one. But I've always, every time I was in the Middle East in the military, I would look at these silk rugs. They're amazing. They literally last hundreds of years. They're made to last and they're beautiful and expensive. And he and I have talked about this as one of my regrets that I didn't just bite the bullet 20 or 30 years ago when I could have gotten one for maybe $1,000. Now they're $10,000. And I just kind of kicked myself with those silly decisions. I could have had a really amazing piece of history, the same kinds of rugs they've used even back a thousand or more years ago, made the same way. So my friend calls me from the Middle East, and he says, actually he's texting me, and he says, I've got a rug. This has your name on it. And he sends me a picture. And I said, wow, that's a great rug. And he said, I just bought it. This is for you. And I went, what? He said, yes, $4,800, great price. And I said, I can't believe that you bought me a rug. And here's the thing, he's a generous and beloved friend. I can see him actually doing that. Like he does love me. And again, I'm studying this text as well. And I thought, wow, talk about extravagant gifts. I mean, it's not a year's wages, but that's crazy. Well, then he saw that he thought that I thought that he had bought me this rug. So then he calls me and he's like, Mano, I love you, but I'm not buying you a rug. I'm saying it's yours if you need it. Well, it actually fits perfectly with what we're talking about because these kinds of gifts are really unheard of. It's not normal for us as humans to just lavish a kind of gift that would cost a year's wages on someone else. Plus, this is a perishable gift. getting a rug, which you'll use for years and years and years and pass down to your family as an heirloom for generations or something like that. This isn't like a racehorse or a prize bull that will be used for for many years to come. It's not like the gift of a land or property which would be used and maybe bring some some profit in time to come. Now, this is a one time perishable gift. This is like the $50,000 bottle of wine. Happy anniversary. Go drink this wine and celebrate your marriage. Really? $50,000 bottle of wine? That's basically what Mary has done. She's taken a $50,000, using today's cash, or whatever your year's wage is, alabaster jar of ointment, broke the flask, which means it's not going to ever be used for anything else. She broke the flask and used all of it to anoint Jesus. It's amazing. To anoint someone, remember, was a sign of blessing in the East. It still is. To anoint someone is a sign of blessing, of love, of shalom, of friendship, of hospitality. We see in other accounts of Jesus going into people's houses and they don't anoint His head with oil. And He points out to them, you claim to be a friend, but you didn't even give Me oil for My head. You didn't give Me water for My feet or hands. Usually anointing is done with oil. We read that she pours it on His feet. Mark records that she pours it on His head as well. And Jesus later says that she has anointed My body. It seems that Mary from head to toe is pouring this oil on Jesus. As you would a body that's about to be buried. And this is an expensive bottle of ointment. And it's all used on Jesus. It's a one and done. $50,000. Gone. Completely selfish. Selfless. Nothing in it for Mary at all. Just an extravagant and sacrificial show of love. And this is starkly contrasted with the unbridled hatred that we saw in the previous chapter of the Jewish leaders, isn't it? We see the great contrast in the just all-consuming love Mary has for Jesus. Secondly, we see that this is a thoughtfully complete love. It's very thoughtful, and it's all that she has. It's all and all of Mary. She uses something that's very expensive to anoint Him, but then she wipes His feet with her hair. She gave her all for Jesus, and it was very thoughtful. In the Jewish world, The disciples of a rabbi were essentially servants or slaves of the rabbi. They walked where he walked. They talked the way that he talked. They tried to anticipate his needs and provide for him. They provided food for him. They provided a place for him to sleep. They followed him everywhere. His disciples mimicked his thoughts and his speech and tried to act like him in every way. They followed in his steps and did as he commanded. But even the disciples of a rabbi at that time were not expected to touch his feet. They didn't wash His feet. That was something that the lowest slave had the responsibility of doing, or the person himself. Which makes Jesus' later washing of His disciples' feet even more poignant, but we'll discuss that in the future. So Mary takes the place of the lowest of low in her service to Jesus. She has this thing worth a year's wage. She pours it all over His body, including His feet, and then takes her own hair and wipes His feet, His dirty feet, with her own hair. She gave her all. Literally offering herself as a living sacrifice to God. This is an act of worship. And I believe she thoughtfully considered how best to honor Jesus at this event. She did it at just the right time so that everyone would see that He is worthy of honor. This does remind me in some way of the vow of the Nazarite we read about in Numbers 6. After Dr. Morales at Greenville Seminary preached a sermon just on the vow of the Nazarite, it's just been in my head ever since. You see people who would take the vow of the Nazarite would dedicate their lives to God for a set period of time. Maybe four months, maybe six months, maybe a year. And in that time, they would just let their hair grow. And they would separate themselves anything that came from the grape, any wine or juice from a grape. They would separate themselves from any dead things. Basically, symbolically setting themselves apart for the service of God, as holy unto God. And at the end of that time of the Nazarite, they would go to the priest and they would take some sacrifices to the priest. Actually, some of the same exact sacrifices that the priest himself before the Day of Atonement would take and offer to God before entering the Holy of Holies. There seems to be parallels there. They would take a goat, a lamb, a bird, and offer them as a burnt offering with bread, with showbread and incense, much like a priest would do, showing their complete devotion to God. And then cut their hair off, shave their heads, and then they would take their hair and put it up on the altar. And this is the altar that no one could approach upon pain of death except for the priest, except for a man or a woman who had taken the vow of the Nazarite. And they would shave their heads saying, all that I have is yours. And then that person could do like a priest and burn this hair upon the altar. A wonderful testimony of God's desire that man and woman, all people, not just priests, would worship Him in spirit and in truth. Well, Mary is essentially using her own hair in this way to say, it's all yours. My hair is like a slave's towel. It's all yours. And I don't want you to think that ladies back then didn't care about their hair. Like we don't see that indicated in scripture. We actually see the opposite, that they cared about their appearance as much as any woman cares about their appearance. She's taking her beautiful hair and using it as a cloth. for Jesus' dirty feet. She's completely devoted to Jesus. So we see this is a sacrificially extravagant gift. We see that it's thoughtfully complete and whole. But we also see that it's an open declaration of His identity. The anointing of Jesus with this oil declares that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, for everyone who is present. Mary understands and Martha probably, and Lazarus as well, that Jesus is the only one who would not be unworthy of such a gift. The only person for whom such a gift is not a waste. And of course, the reality is it's far from enough. There's nothing we can give. Nothing that Mary could give that would be enough to adequately express our devotion and our love that's due to the Lord. She's a finite being and all of the gifts that she could give her, her Lord, are also finite gifts. What more could possibly be done than to give herself, her own flesh and blood, her body and soul, heart and soul and strength to serve the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. She knew that He was the Messiah. This man who's reclining there in her house, that He was God. And Jesus, far from rebuking her as the apostles did, Jesus affirms her display of love. He says, the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. He's not discounting the need to help the poor. We're supposed to help the poor. That's what the church does. It's a Christian duty. But he's saying that there will always be poor people in the world. But I'm only here on this earth walking in flesh and blood for a short time. 33 years and I'm in the last week. There's one week left. My time's coming to an end. The special time of my incarnation is coming to an end. And it was special. Make no bones about it. We're about to celebrate Christmas. The beginning of His time on the earth. And there's a reason why we celebrate Christmas. Because God became man and dwelt among us. You realize when He was born, He was born to the exaltation of the heavenly host. I don't know about you, but that didn't happen when I was born. I think my mom was screaming when I was born. That's about the only noise anyone heard. When He was born, the angels in heaven, and a host is an army. The heavenly army of God. The army choir. came and sang the praise of God. He got the birth of a king and then kingly gifts were brought to him, weren't they? Gold and frankincense and myrrh as an infant. And these were all absolutely right and completely inadequate. To give him the majesty that was due and the glory that was due his name. Is the perfectly holy son of God, but needless to say, Mary gave her all to the Lord Jesus Christ and openly declared. By that act. that He was worthy of worship. Finally, we see that this act was prophetic to His mission. It pointed forward to what He had come to do. And Jesus said this as well. In Matthew 26, He says, And you know by now that preparing a body for burial in the East And even today, in our tradition, is a very special thing. We have entire companies built around people's whole job to prepare a body for burial. Well, bodies were especially important in ancient times as well, especially for children of God. One thing they would do is pour ointment on the body. This would also offset the odor of the decaying flesh or the decaying body, but it was also a great honor to that person whose spirit had gone to be with God. And Jesus was honored not only in this way, but also in His death, He was honored in the tomb that was given to Him. He was put in the tomb that would essentially be the tomb of a king, chiseled out of solid rock. he was buried with the rich in his death. So this kingly treatment surrounding his death, his anointing with this expensive ointment, he was going to be anointed again by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea later. This was to prepare him for burial. This is the prophetic nature of what she did. And we see, again, there's a prophecy that was announced in chapter 11, wasn't there? Caiaphas, the high priest of the day, in his hatred of Jesus, said it's needful that one must die for the nation. He didn't know that he was prophesying the salvation of the world, and now Mary prophetically anoints Jesus with this expensive ointment, preparing Him for burial. She may not have realized exactly what she was doing, And she may not have realized how that whole situation really pointed to Christ, just as Lazarus died and was raised from the dead. So Jesus was to die and be raised from the dead and to draw men to himself. And we someday will be sitting with him at the marriage supper of the Lamb and fellowshipping the way Mary and Martha and Lazarus are fellowshipping with Christ in that moment. This seems to be a small type of what is coming for the people of God. But the anointing of Jesus' body certainly prepared Jesus for burial, prophesied His death in a way that she may not have been able to comprehend. Because this is the pinnacle event, the cumulative event of all history, that Jesus would die and rise from the dead. The event that defeated Satan and the power of sin and death. Well, you think, that sounds fairly amazing. I wonder why Satan wasn't active in the midst of it. To stop it, if he could. Well, he was. We always see opposition to God's Son, to God's Gospel, and to God's people, even today. There's always opposition. I'm just going to give you two points of application as we close. First, notice that Judas Iscariot was right there with them. The most extravagant, beautiful gift maybe of Jesus' whole time on earth. And Judas Iscariot, a servant of Satan, was right there. Right there to discourage, to condemn this beautiful thing and call it a waste. We read in Matthew and Mark that the disciples and others were also thinking the same thing. What a waste. This is a year's wages. $50,000 just thrown on Jesus and it's done? What are you doing? The carnal mind cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit, and the wolves seem to come out to attack the sheep when they're doing the most precious things for the Lord. They're always the targets, the sheep. And the sheep think differently. Their economy is an eternal one. Mary's not thinking about the cost. She's thinking about her eternal Lord and Savior who's sitting right there in front of her. So, of course it seems like nonsense to those who are not part of the body of Christ. There's usually wolves in every flock, false Christians in the service of Satan in the church who are used by God to accomplish His own purposes. They think, maybe, that no one's noticing, but God uses even the wicked actions of men to accomplish His purposes. We have nothing to fear, actually, when we think of wolves in the midst of the flock. Nothing to fear at all. It all works out to enhance the kingdom of God. The reality is that Jesus is on our side, even in the midst of attack. Jesus responded to Judas Iscariot, to the disciples who would oppose Mary, with these words, leave her alone. I love that. That sounds like something that you would see when maybe walking down the street and someone comes and is harassing a woman, and you see a big guy walk up and say, leave her alone. Jesus is protecting His own sheep. He's protecting Mary in this moment. Leave her alone. And He says that to His church as well. The Lord is on your side. He's your helper. Psalm 118. Psalm 56. I know this, that God is for me. He will never leave His saints. Indeed, He's our defender. He's our strong tower. He's our warrior. Be encouraged. If you're feeling beset by some enemy, attacked by wolves, hear the voice of your Savior saying, leave her alone. Leave Him alone. He has not forgotten you. He is with you. Doesn't mean He won't allow you to be attacked. He won't allow you to be sifted like wheat. He might. But then He will always bring you back. But the second point of application I want you to hear is that our response... You look at Mary and what she did for Jesus and you think, I'm never going to have a chance to do that. I don't see Jesus physically in front of me. I don't have that kind of money to just dump into the church or to dump at Jesus' feet, figuratively speaking. I'll never be able to give anything like that. Well, it's not true. It's just a lie. We are all called to be like Mary. We are all called to love God with all of our heart, our soul, and our might. We are all called to give our all to Him. We are all called to recognize that Jesus alone is the one worthy of our worship and our time and our efforts. We only have one Master. And it's Jesus. And this gives us one purpose and one goal and one objective in life, and that's the glory of God. So with this eternal perspective, with this focus on Jesus Christ and Him alone, really it makes all that we do of significance and value. This shows the greatness of God and gives value to all of our lives. You say what she did is going to be talked about until the end of the world. That's true. But for the people of God, who have the Spirit of God in them, all that you do is also of eternal value. Jesus said this was a beautiful gift. It would never be forgotten on the earth. It was done as unto the Lord. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. And this is our perspective as well. Not some things, but all things are for Him. From Him and through Him and to Him. You may never do anything quite like Mary, but you are called like Mary to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice today and every day. We are beings who will live forever. You know this. From the moment, even those who don't have faith in Christ are going to live forever in hell. But if you have faith in Christ, you're going to live forever with Him. From the moment you have faith, from the moment you are regenerated and turn to Him in faith and repentance, you are beginning the forever part of your life with Christ. And if this is true, then the interactions you have with people have eternal significance. Think about this for a moment. If you understand this, it changes how you view life. There's not a wasted word that you will ever say. Every word, God will either use or discard. for His gospel's purposes. There's not a situation in all of your life that's random. Everything that happens to you and in your life is from Him and through Him and to Him. And all that you do is permanent and lasting in that sense. So even the ordinary things of your life come to have eternal value in Christ. Especially when God brings someone to your face. When you meet someone or you're talking to someone throughout the week, Never think of any conversation with any person as, well, I don't even know this person. Let's see what I can do to get out of this conversation quickly. No, this is someone that God has brought to you. Why? So that you might glorify God in that conversation. Well, I don't know how to talk about God. Like Patty says, just open your lips and start talking about Jesus. Say the name Jesus and talk about Him. That's how you start. There's no throwaway moment. There's no throwaway conversation. You're talking with someone who is an image bearer and who will live forever somewhere. So value that moment and use that moment. Redeem the time because the days are evil. Allow God and pray that God redeems your thoughts, He redeems your words, He redeems your actions, all to the glory of God. When you think of it this way, that everything you do has eternal value, it makes even the most mundane things valuable. Can you change a diaper to the glory of God? Ladies, you can. You can do it as unto the glory of God, taking care of this child, keeping him clean and healthy. In this way, everything that you do can be seen as bringing value, bringing eternal significance in some way to God or to His work through you. The house, it says, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. This made me think of the sweet aroma of the sacrifices of God. It's spoken of throughout the entire Old Testament when they talk about sacrifices being offered to God. It's always a sweet aroma. It says God doesn't have a nose and he doesn't actually smell, but it's a metaphor of how precious it is. He's using words we can understand when you smell something that just lifts up your spirits. It's pleasing to you. Our work to God. Indeed, our prayers are lifted up as sweet incense to God. This is an aroma. When you live for Christ as a public Christian, and that's your call, like Mary, to live as a public Christian. Everything you do is a sweet incense to God. It's an aroma that fills the room. Paul tells us that the gospel in you is an aroma of life to those being saved, an aroma of death to those who are perishing. Regardless, when you offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, it's used and it's sweet to the Lord. So, can you do a beautiful thing like Mary did? Maybe not exactly like that, but your life is meant to be a beautiful thing. Lived as unto the Lord. Whether you're reading the paper, or mowing the grass, or spending time in prayer, or coming to church, or driving to work, or doing paperwork at your desk. Whatever. Do it as unto the Lord. This is a beautiful thing if done as unto the Lord. He sees all. He sees your thoughts. And when you do it as unto the Lord, it's pleasing to Him. You are a holy priesthood and a holy nation. A peculiar people, a special people, called forth out of darkness to shine light. So I'm calling each one of you in your lives to fill the room of this world with the fragrance of Christ. Sacrificially extravagant in all of your work for Him. Be thoroughly complete. Be all in in your service to Christ. Openly declare the name of Jesus. And focus on the mission that His kingdom is more important than yours. That His kingdom should come. Let us pray. Almighty God, we thank You that You have brought us here this morning. to give glory and honor to You, just as Mary did, we desire to worship You with all that we are, in thought, word, and deed, with all of our heart, our soul, and our might, to serve You and to worship You. Lord, we are willing in our souls, we desire in our spirits to do this, but we also recognize that our flesh is weak, so Holy Spirit, please help us and refine us and change us Lord, may we be killing sin in our lives. That we might serve you well, but may we also be pursuing holiness in our lives. And showing our love for you. By the good deeds we do for others, Lord, do a work of sanctification in each one of us. And may all that we do glorify your holy name. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Our hymn of response is number 483, Lead on, O King Eternal. Please stand and sing with me.