White Gift Service at Iloilo Mission Hospital

December 13, 2013, 8:30 A.M.

Theme: Generous Giving
Title: Selfless giving
Text: John 12: 1-8
Subject: Giving, kindness, generosity, service

Introduction: (Story of a Minister and young fellow)

There was story about a minister and a young faithful fellow. This fellow was known in their
place to be a faithful church goer. He owned several parcels of land and a pair of cattle. One
day the minister visited this fellow and said Brother, it seems that God has richly blessed you.
The faithful fellow happily responded, I am, but it would be much better if God would blessed
me more and increase my herds. The minister uttered Dont worry, God will increase more of
your harvest. The faithful fellow answered If God would just give me hundreds of cattle, I
would love to give half to the Lords work in which the minister applauded, Wow! Thats truly
great! How about if God would only give you fifty, are you still willing give the half to the lords
work? the faithful fellow confidently said with certainty Of course I will, I would love to pastor.
(The minister further said how about 20 or 10 and so on and so forth, with the same answer
from the faithful fellow). Finally, the minister said, If God would give you two herds, would you
give half to the Lord? The faithful fellow immediately responded Oh, no, no, no, no, no! That
would be unfair! God would be so greed to take the half away from me, besides only one tenth
belongs to him.

Many of us are like the faithful fellow or may be not. we want to have plenty or having so much
before we give, we wait for blessing to come before we bless others, we want to see our hands
full before we offer our helping hands to others. I hope we are not like that, but like an old
widow, who gave everything she had to the Lord out of her poverty. Today as we celebrate the
white gift service, remembering those who have less in life with our pure, true, strong and
without stain love. Let us learn the act of giving selflessly by not looking at ourselves but looking
unto Jesus through the eyes of others who need our attention.

Our text this morning is about the story of an ordinary woman who, in the presence of Jesus
Christ, was so overwhelmed by the wonder of who he was and by the thought of all he had done
in her life, This incident took place while Jesus was on his last journey to Jerusalem. He had
stopped over for a few days in the little village of Bethany. While he was there, he was invited to
the house of Simon the leper for a dinner in his honor. Some believe that he was a friend of
Mary, Martha and Lazarus. John tells us that she was the one who broke the precious
alabaster jar and poured the perfume over Jesus. Oils and perfumes were used widely in the
ancient world. Guests entering a house would customarily be given water and a towel to wash
their faces, hands, and feet. Often there would be oil to wipe on the dry, parched skin as well.
And many families would save and buy an expensive flask of really good aromatic oil or
perfume and keep it stored for funeral occasions. So Mary came into the room with an
alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. This expensive perfume was
made from a plant grown principally in India, that worth a mans year wages (converted to
Philippine peso now, more or less 140,000.00) So Mary broke it open and began to pour it on
the head of Jesus. It happened when women had no place in society. Generally, the place as a
woman was in the kitchen. Mary should have been in there with Martha, helping to prepare and
cook the meal, or so everyone thought. But she was so overwhelmed with love for Jesus that
she just had to break tradition. So she took the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and broke it
open. She poured it out until every drop was exhausted and the flask empty. John adds that she
poured it not only on his head but even his feet as well and then (although respectable
women didnt unbind their hair in public!) she used her own hair to wipe off Jesus feet.

I. Mary Did an Act of True Giving

Why did Mary do what she did? This was her way of giving to Jesus. There are many different
kinds of giving in the scriptures: the giving of our time, our money, our possessions. In fact,
giving is the story of the Christian faith. The Bible itself is a book on giving. It tells how God
gave man life, created the world for him and gave him dominion over every other creature. He
gave man a home in the garden of Eden and, when man fell, he gave him a promise of
redemption. He gave the Israelites a law. He has given us the church and the promise of eternal
life. But, above all else, he has given us his Son. The very essence of Christianity is the
cross where God so loved the world that he gave.

The Bible is also the story of man giving back to God. Cain and Abel brought gifts to God.
When Noah got off the ark, he gave an offering to God. The Jews gave tithes to God; not just
one, but three different tithes plus free-will offerings. They gave as much as 15-30% of their
income to God. And the church is to give. Let every one of you lay by in store as God hath
prospered him" (I Corinthians 16:2). An accurate description of the New Testament church is
that we should be a fellowship of givers.

Mary gave her precious perfume. Jesus had given her brother, Lazarus back to her from the
dead. He had restored her friend or her father Simon back to health. He had treated her with
dignity and respect. And he had shared with her secrets of the kingdom of God. So she wanted
to give Jesus something to let him know how much she loved him.

II. What Mary Did Was an Expression of True Worship.

We always hear the word worship, but what does it mean? In its simplest definition, it means
giving worth or value to God, Mary understood that Jesus deserves the best in her, the best
she could ever have. Mary gave something to Jesus that was important to her, something
precious, and something valuable. Mary was a simple lady, she was neither rich nor poor, but
she was a woman willing to give up something expensive for a greater cause. The NIV says that
it was a years wages. One denarius was the amount of a normal working mans wages for one
day. So if this perfume was worth 300 denarii, then it was worth approximately one years salary
for the average working man, more or less 150,000 pesos in todays money. When we read in
Mark that the other apostles who were present also joined with Judas in their objection,
apparently unable to appreciate the gift of love that Mary had given. They said, "This perfume
could have been sold and the money given to the poor." After all, Jesus was a friend to the
poor. And it was Passover week, a week in which special efforts were made to help the needy.
Everyone did it. The disciples found it hard to imagine how anyone who ought to be giving alms
to the poor could just throw it away like this! Just think how much good this money could have
done if it had been used to feed hungry families or to clothe naked children! But instead, it was
wasted through the extravagance of an impulsive woman.

I realized that if you truly want to give something to God which is dear to you or something very
important or expensive, it really hurts. But in spite of such pain you give anyway because you
believe that God deserves it. To put it simply if you sacrifice something that is important to you
theres always pain, but you do it, because you believe that is the right thing to do. When God
asked Abraham to sacrifice his dear son Isaac whom he kept, loved, protected, nurtured and
cared for how many years, Abraham wasnt happy nor joyful (Sin-o bala ya nga amay ang
malipay nga ehatag kag e sakripisyo ang iya nga bata, nga gin halongan, patiti kag gin
palangga niya, tapos patyonniya lang. wala gid!), but anyway Abraham followed God because
he believed in his conviction that to obey God was the right thing to do. Truer with us, the more
we sacrificially give to the Lord, the more God is pleased with our worship. Ive noticed nga kung
ang imo gin hatag daw wala man lang nimo gina value, daw wala ka man lang labot di bala?
Pero kung ang imo ginhatag, imo ginpangabudlayan, imo gina value, ukon gina hatagan
importansa daw masakit gawa, because we sacrificially give what we value not for our own
interest but for the interest of God, and that is the best form of worship..

III. Mary did a Loving Act

Love always seems wasteful to those who dont love. Judas had witnessed an action of love
and he called it extravagant waste. So much depends upon ones point of view. Ones outlook is
determined by what is inside of him. Judas never really saw the gift the Mary gave to Jesus that
night. The fact that he tried to put a price tag on it proves that he never really saw it. If he had
seen the real gift Mary gave to Jesus that night, he would have known it was priceless. Bu
rather He said, "Why this waste?" May God give us more of that waste! May God grant us more
sacrificial expressions of love! Because the offerings of love are never wasted. The difference
between Judas and Mary was a difference in love. Mary took the most precious thing that she
possessed and spent it all on Jesus. And genuine love always contains a certain extravagance
about it. William Barclay says, in his commentary on this passage, "Love does not neatly
calculate the less or the more. It is not concerned to see how little it can decently give. If it gave
all it had, if indeed it gave all the world, the gift would still be too little." There is a certain
recklessness in love which refuses to count the cost. Like the how the parents love their children
and if theres anything they need -- anything at all Parents will make whatever sacrifice is
necessary to get it for them. Love is not love if it neatly calculates the cost.

We can see here, that Mary had an unconditional love with the Lord. She never poured the
alabaster jar of perfume because she wanted something from the Lord, but she poured it as an
expression of her love as she had experienced the love, favor and grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. She didnt mind what other people were saying, although some or even all of the
disciples misunderstood and criticized her, but it never stopped her from coming and expressing
her love to Jesus. For Mary, theres no too expensive to the Lord that she could not let go.

IV. Mary Did a Wonderful thing

What was the response of Jesus to all of this? In Mark 14:6-7, he said, "Leave her alone. Why
do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always,
and whenever you wish you may do them good; but me you do not always have." Then Jesus
gives perhaps what is the most beautiful description of what real Christian love and real
Christian service is. He tells us what he wants of each of us. He said Mary "has done what she
could". She has done what she could. And thats exactly what Jesus wants out of each and
every one of us. She did everything she could. I believe that Mary had back in her room
somewhere some cheaper perfume, but she didnt bring it out. She went for the best. She gave
her best. And thats what made her gift so wonderful and different to others. She never settled
for less, she chose the best. Mary wants to show some expression of her devotion for Jesus.
For Mary, speech didnt seem to come easy. Hers was a silent nature, very much unlike her
sister Martha. She probably felt that she would never be able to tell Jesus face to face about the
depth of her feelings. So she took her most valued and expensive possession, the perfume that
she had probably been saving for her own burial and the anointing of her body later on, and
broke it and poured it over Jesus. Mary chose to manifest her faith through action. She was not
satisfied just to do nothing, she had to do something! As Christians our actions speak louder
than the words we preach. We are judge by the fruits we bear, and not on the words we share.
And it is true Mary, She had to express her faith.

Last week I heard a story How Nobel prize came into existence, Alfred Nobel was born in
Sweden to a faithful Lutheran Family, he grew up in the Church. In spite of lack in formal
education, Alfred was able to invent what we called Dynamite, in 1888, Alfreds brother Ludvig
died while visiting Cannes, and a French newspaper erroneously published Alfreds orbituary
that states The merchant of death is dead... Dr. Alfred Nobel became rich finding ways to kill
more people faster than even before, died yesterday. Alfred was disappointed with what he
read and concerned how he would be remembered. He thought of giving back to God, for all his
goodness and mercies. There all his wealth were put into a fund, in what now we call Nobel
Prize, recognizing those people in religion or not who made a positive impact in the field of
peace keeping, science, engineering, politics and governance.

Like Nobel, whatever mistakes we might have done, its never too late to come to Jesus and let
him rule in our lives and make it beautiful again, and begin to live a life that truly exalts and
glorify him. Like Mary, she had experienced the grace of Christs love and forgiveness.

Conclusion:
The more you give, the more God gives back! In Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you:
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom.
For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Bring God a cupful
and hell give you back a cupful. Bring him a basketful and thats what hell give back to you.
You cant outgive God.

The story is told of a beggar in India who sat by the road begging for alms. As he held out his
bowl, people passing by dropped a few grains of rice into it. This was his means of providing
food for himself. Occasionally someone would drop a coin in his hands. One day he saw a
procession coming down the road and he thought, "This is good. It looks as if a prince is
coming. Surely he will give me a gold coin today." And it was indeed a prince. He stopped
beside the beggar, who held out his bowl and waited eagerly to see what the prince would put
in.But, to his surprise, the prince asked, "Will you give me your rice?" The beggar answered, "I
cant do that; its all I have." Again the prince said, "I want your rice." Again, the beggar said,
"No, I cant give you my rice. Ill starve." The prince made a third request for the rice. Slowly the
beggar reached into his bowl, took out three grains of rice and put them in the hand of the
prince. The prince then reached into a bag hanging at his belt and took out three nuggets of
gold which he dropped into the beggars bowl. As the beggar looked at them he thought
regretfully, "Why, oh why didnt I turn my bowl upside-down in his hand?"

And so it is with God. The more we give, the more he gives to us.

Four hundred years earlier, Malachi said the same thing to the Jews, "Bring all the tithes into
the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now in this, says the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that
there will not be enough room to receive it." (Malachi 3:10). God says, "Test me! See if I wont
bless you."

Those who are willing to give what they have are those who have first given themselves. Giving
ourselves is the key that opens all other doors of blessings.