What We Celebrate Is What We Worship
Text: John 12:1-8
In our text, Mary sacrifices a costly container of oil to anoint Jesus. Judas objects! Dishonestly, he claimed that he was concerned for the poor and publicly confronted Mary over this "waste" of resources.
Judas was a respected disciple in Jesus' inner circle. Only Jesus knew Judas was a fraud and a thief. He had everyone fooled with his ability to appear moral, prudent, financially responsible, and even benevolent.
Today's New Morning Mercies devotion states, "Spiritual fakery is one of the chief tools of the enemy." Tripp illustrates how we can all appear to be serving God when in reality, we are only serving ourselves in the following list:
In our text, Mary sacrifices a costly container of oil to anoint Jesus. Judas objects! Dishonestly, he claimed that he was concerned for the poor and publicly confronted Mary over this "waste" of resources.
Judas was a respected disciple in Jesus' inner circle. Only Jesus knew Judas was a fraud and a thief. He had everyone fooled with his ability to appear moral, prudent, financially responsible, and even benevolent.
Today's New Morning Mercies devotion states, "Spiritual fakery is one of the chief tools of the enemy." Tripp illustrates how we can all appear to be serving God when in reality, we are only serving ourselves in the following list:
- A focus on material things can masquerade as good stewardship of your possessions.
- Loving personal control can masquerade as using God-given leadership gifts.
- Anger can masquerade as having a heart for what is right.
- Self-righteous legalism can masquerade as loving God's law.
- Building your own ministry empire can masquerade as a commitment to the expansion of God's kingdom. Fear of man can masquerade as a sensitive heart toward the needs of others.
- Selfish attention-seeking can masquerade as being candid about your needs.
- Judgment and criticism can masquerade as a commitment to honesty.
- Theological pride can masquerade as a commitment to God's truth.
- A craving to be known and respected can masquerade as a commitment to ministry.
- Bondage to the opinions of others can masquerade as a commitment to community.
- Lust can masquerade as a celebration of the beauty of God's creation.
- Gossip can masquerade as a prayerful concern for others.
Only God can give us a heart of worship. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). Mary is our example, finding her sitting at the feet of Jesus in Luke 10 and anointing Jesus' feet here in John 12. Mary had an intense personal devotion to Jesus.
So are you becoming more like Mary or more like Judas? Is a growing expertise in acting religious covering up your inner spiritual sloth? Or is your love for Jesus moving you to demonstrations of extravagant worship?
So are you becoming more like Mary or more like Judas? Is a growing expertise in acting religious covering up your inner spiritual sloth? Or is your love for Jesus moving you to demonstrations of extravagant worship?
