Mary

Lay Ministry -Our Second Shift

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P1010821Maybe you start at four or five in the afternoon or maybe late enough for the street lights to be coming on. As lines of cars are heading home you are heading in to work for second shift. Maybe it took some adjusting or maybe you loved it from the start but you work on a path that is counter to the main stream. That setting sun heading in to work snap shot is a little snap shot of lay ministry. Your calling and your work is every bit as important as the first shift workers.

Will any one of you who has a servant[c] plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Luke 17:6-9

We are those servants. We have labored in the secular field all day yet God has a higher calling for us still. We come in from our fields and are given the immense privilege to serve Him as He sits at the table. You may serve at the table as a nurse in a free clinic, an accountant helping the pastoral staff keep their books straight or as a volunteer in day care. God’s calling is every bit as urgent, serious and with eternal rewards as when you were working on the world’s time-clock. This morning let two things bring refreshment to you as you wearily press on in fields that only the master sees.

A) Jesus knows everything we do for Him! 

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward Matthew 10:42

It will all be worth it because we have not simply done what we were expected to do. We have the honor to serve Jesus in unique ways that often only the Lord sees. He wants you to know that he sees and that in heaven awaits His reward. No we don’t do it for the reward but Jesus is saying that our simple service here on earth has eternal value to Him!

B) Lay Ministry gives us both a privilege and a power

 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.  For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.                       1 Corinthians 9:18-19

When Mary brought our her alabaster box and poured its precious contents on Jesus’ feet, she was chosen as the example to be spoken of everywhere the gospel was to be preached. She did the unexpected. She was misunderstood and criticized by everyone but Jesus. But Mary was unmoved by what others thought was appropriate for a woman of her position. She honored the master with her gift and the fragrance of her perfumed oil is still filling rooms today. What is your gift for the master? Do not be discouraged by the difficulty, harsh responses of others or the embarrassment of your position. Pour out every drop from your alabaster jar on the feet of Jesus.He is worth more than we could ever give or do or sacrifice! Then one day in Heaven we open our eyes and see a table to which we will be invited to come and sit forever with Him!

 

 

 

Service With a Smile

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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.  John 12:1

At the first time when Martha had Jesus in her home and she began to complain about her sister Jesus corrected her. Yet Jesus didn’t say, “Stop what you are doing and sit down with Mary!” Jesus said, “Stop being anxious in the midst of all your activity.”  Each of us have different days that lie ahead. Some will have a quiet day listening. Some will have pain, problems and unanswered questions to deal with. Some of us simply feel like we are drowning in busyness.

At their second encounter Jesus meets Martha outside of Bethany. She had sent for Him when Lazarus had been sick. Lazarus had grown weaker and weaker then died and Martha had buried him and wondered why Jesus had not come. In her grief-stricken state she met Jesus as He after He finally showed up saying what many of us tell God today, “If you had been here my brother would not have died!” But there in her sorrow, her brokenness and even a touch of anger Jesus gave her the words, “I Am the resurrection and the life!” Those words were given only to Mp1030030artha. They were the special message Jesus had just for her! So if you wish you could be more like Mary or Lazarus and even your best efforts seem a failure don’t give up. In each of our lives Jesus comes with the words we need. Mary hears them at the feet of Jesus. Lazarus listens quietly at His side and Martha smiles and remembers them as she sets the food on the table, filled with gratitude for all He has done!

 

 

The Fragrance of the Perfume

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Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled withoctober-04-assorted-001 the fragrance of the oil          John 12:3

While Hollywood has generally given us the impression that Mary was a young beautiful woman, that may not have been the reality. In that time even poor young beautiful women would have been married and Mary was not poor. While we do not know Mary’s age it seems possible that she and Martha were both widows, living with their brother Lazarus. That would give us an entirely different view than the film version. In this scene we meet a Mary who kept all her savings in that perfume jar. It acted as something of a retirement account. As she grew older with no marital prospects, no way to work or even the right to own property that perfume was all she had besides the kindness of her brother. She was presenting  that gift in a single defining moment as her worship and expression of love to the Lord Jesus.

As the fragrance filled the room people began one by one to realize how exorbitant and yes even a little crazy what Mary was doing really was! Her family and friends were shocked but silent. Then one by one the disciples, beginning with Judas,  began to protest. “Why wasn’t this sold …and given to the poor?”

But Jesus knew Mary’s heart and while she remained silently at His feet He defended her. Today we have little to describe how Peter or John, Andrew or Phillip worshiped, but Mary’s act remains as the Bible’s best example of how we should be after 2,000 years. In a way that costly perfume continues to fill each of our rooms with its fragrance!