Week 24 Day 5

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 24 Day 5

Introduction…The Jewish religious leaders were wondering if Jesus would attend the Feast with the intentions to arrest Him. Jesus knew that His time was near and yet without fear was preparing to attend the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. After all this was the plan of God and coming into our world to die sacrificially for our sin, is what Jesus came to accomplish. Hebrews 12:2 gives us insight into these last days, “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Read John 12:1-8 “Now 6 days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where was whom he raised from the dead. So they make him a meal there and Martha was serving while Lazarus was one of those who reclined at table with him. Now Mary took a pound of very precious genuine spikenard ointment and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the perfume of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was going to betray him, said: ‘Why was this ointment not sold for 10 pounds and the proceeds given to the poor?’ He said this, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had charge of the money box and pilfered from what was put into it. So Jesus said: ‘Let her observe it now against the day of my burial. The poor you have always with you, but me you have not always.”

Bible Study

• Martha loved, honored and served Jesus with the practical work of her hands in the kitchen and getting things done so as to help the ministry.
  • Work, when done as unto the Lord is in fact, worship. Avodah is the Hebrew word for both work and worship. See Colossians 3:23-24.
  • The Spiritual Gift of Helps is the Spirit given ability to some individuals to serve the Church in any supporting role. See 1 Corinthians 12:28
• Mary loved Jesus in an extravagant way, giving at all costs, humbly and without being self-conscious, she honored Jesus with her dedication and giving.
  • Jesus taught in a parable in Luke 7:40-50 that the person who has been forgiven little, loves little and the one who has been forgiven much, loves much.
• Judas was a traitor. How can someone betray Jesus? Jesus put trust in Judas expecting the best.
  • Judas was the treasurer of the funds and abused that trust by pilfering.
  • Judas was so out of sync with Jesus’ purpose and missed the incredible opportunity of being associated with Jesus.
  • Judas revealed his lost state by not realizing the appropriateness of honoring Jesus by anointing His feet.
  • Judas with a warped mind and embittered spirit criticized Mary instead of glorifying God for the act of worship.
• Deuteronomy 15:11 says, “The poor will never cease out of the land, therefore I command you saying, you shall open wide your hand to your brother to the needy and to the poor in the land.”
  • God’s heart and commandment to His children is to see need, give and help others with what we have
  • It could and should be done, but it was not a reason to not honor and worship Jesus with this gift of love.

Application

• We are the joy that was set before Him. We are the joy that was set before Jesus when He went to the Cross. He went through the suffering and shame because we were hopelessly lost and only Jesus could pay the price we could not pay. The result was Jesus became the bridge bringing God to us and us to God.
• Have you thanked Jesus for dying for your sins today?

What gift of thanks will we bring before Him?

Tags: Take 10

November 23, 2009 – A Thankful Heart

I Thes. 5:18 says, “Be thankful in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  Having a thankful heart is a staple, it is principle to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Paul is actually telling the church that it is God’s will for your life to be thankful.  We often attribute God’s will for our lives being what we do for a living, where we are to live or who we are to marry when God it actually more interested in the how than the what.  How we act on the job rather than what we do – how we act in our marriage relationship rather than to who.  Living a life of thanksgiving is God’s will for every believer.

Cultivating a thankful heart is all about perspective.  Perspective is often all about getting off of yourself and your current circumstances and onto a bigger picture.  Being more intent on God’s plans for you life than your agenda.  With thankfulness being about perspective it makes thankfulness really a lordship issue.  Thankfulness is a great litmus test for where we have allowed God to rule and reign in our lives and where we are holding onto control.  Is God the lord of every area of your life, your circumstances, every arena of your life.  If you are unthankful it shows where you have not made God ruler over that area.  Paul warns us of this in I Cor. 10:10.

The most difficult time to give thanks is in challenging circumstances but that is exactly the attitude that we should take in order to get on the path to victory.  Finding something to be thankful for is God’s will.  Sometimes is it a faith walk in knowing that God is in the situation, ensuring that He is lording over the circumstances you are facing in your life and being focused that He will work on our behalf to use everything that comes at us in life for our good and His purpose (Rom. 8:28, Matt. 12:20).  The path to victory is often paved with thanksgiving.

It takes a miners perspective to look at a mountain and say, “If I push aside that dirt and rock I know there is gold in that mountain!”  You know in the first Thanksgiving that played out here in America there is a lot of historical facts surrounding that Thanksgiving feast.  In coming to America from Europe and that first winter half of the settlers husbands, and wives and children all died and yet on that particular day they focused on being thankful that they were alive and had a new found opportunity in this new land.  They pushed aside some rock and dirt and they chose to be Thankful.

That is why the life of a believer looks so different from the outside (Phil. 2:14-15).  To be thankful in every circumstance (Phil. 4:11-13).  It is God’s will for us to live with a thankful heart.  By doing that He gets glorified.

Be Thankful in everything,

Jonathan

Tags: Jonathan Spuler