While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.          Mark 14:3 (NIV).

Toward the end of Jesus’ life there’s a stunning reversal. As men of rank and privilege conspire against Him, a woman expresses her love and devotion for Him. Women – not men – are the ones who remain faithful to Jesus in His final days.

Picture the scene in Mark 14:

Jesus is at the home of Simon the Leper, eating with a social outcast and sinner (another reversal). And around the table dipping their bread into a bowl of olive oil, the inner core of disciples, the men. The women were in the kitchen (culturally in their rightful place). When suddenly, in total disregard for social etiquette, a woman crashes their party. Before the men can object she approaches Jesus, breaks open a jar of spikenard, and pours it over His head. In stunned silence the men watch the oil run down Jesus’ face and into His beard. And as the sweet musky scent of the perfume is filling the room Jesus just sits there, with a trace of an untroubled smile.

The men begin to mutter indignantly. Here’s a woman who has rudely interrupted their supper and taken it upon herself to anoint Jesus. Who did she think she was? They’re flabbergasted. Her irrationality is mind-boggling, the most expensive perfume in the ancient world. What a waste!

But the men missed what the woman saw. On three prior occasions, Jesus had tried to warn the disciples that He must suffer and die. And each time He told them about the trials and troubles to come, they’d dismissed His warnings. Here was a woman who got it. Here was a woman who understood what may be inappropriate in some situations, may be appropriate in other situations. The opportunity to do the right thing comes and goes quickly. We must act when we can.

Here was the Messiah, in the flesh, in their midst. And He didn’t have long to live. Incarnations are fleeting. This woman knew she had to seize the day – to do something while she could. So she ignored the gender taboos, negated her savings and became a fool for love. It’s not surprising that the men were mad. And it’s not surprising that Jesus said, “Leave her alone” Mark 14:6 (NIV).

Messiah, the name literally means “Anointed One.” The men had seen Jesus heal the sick, feed the multitude, calm the storm, and raise the dead. They’d heard Him say, “I and the Father are One.” They’d been with Him for three years with countless opportunities to anoint Him King of kings and Lord of lords, but they didn’t do it. It took a woman, someone (according to Jewish culture) at the same level as a Gentile or a dog, to pour the oil over Jesus’ head and symbolically proclaim Him to be the Anointed One of God.

A stunning reversal. “Many who are first shall be last, and many who are last shall be first.” Jesus was anointed Messiah, not by a king, not by His disciples, but by a woman. The woman did what she could. She gave all she had. Will we do what we can? Will we give what we have? Will we remember? Author and speaker, Max Lucado says, “There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes – seize it, don’t miss it.”

 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV).

Why does God hate sin? More specifically, why, with every ounce of His being, does God totally abhor sin? To say that God abhors sin is not an understatement. In fact He finds sin utterly disgusting – describing it as a putrefying sore (Isaiah 1:6), a heavy burden (Psalm 38:4), contaminating filth (2 Corinthians 7:1), a binding debt (Matthew:12-15) and a scarlet stain (Isaiah 1:18). No matter how you slice and dice it, there’s no getting around it – God loathes, detests and unreservedly despises sin. This is true throughout the Bible. God doesn’t take pleasure in evil and with Him the wicked cannot dwell (Psalm 5:4).

Now isn’t it a bit heavy handed on God’s part to hate sin? How do we reconcile a view of God as One who is loving, nice or empathetic with One who is revolted by sin? To our ears a sin hating God sounds intolerant, unloving and certainly not inclusive. And if God hates sin, then where does that leave us because we’re all sinners?

Here’s why God hates sin:

Firstly, God hates sin because it ruins lives. “Like ripples on a tranquil pond that reach the farthest shore, our sins affect those close to us, and many, many more.” Sin not only ruins our lives, it also ruins the lives of others. As the Roman proverb expressed it homo homini lupus, “man is a wolf to man’. It all began with our common ancestors – Adam and Eve. They disobeyed God (Genesis 3) and the consequences have had a ripple effect from generation to generation. “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin” Romans 5:12. No wonder God hates sin. It’s set us Hell-bent on a course of self-destruction. It’s ruining our lives and the lives of many, many more.

Secondly, God hates sin because it rejects Him. Because of sin our natural inclination is to disobey God. Even from birth, in fact from the time when we were conceived, we go astray (Psalm 51:5). Sin makes us anti-God, stand in opposition to Him, suppress and reject the truth (Romans 1:18, 2:8). Even when we’re trying to be good, we don’t always do what we should (James 4:17). As Socrates observed, “Men know what is good, but do what is bad.” Disobedience is bad enough, but our rejection of God goes deeper than disobedience. When we ignore God, oppose God, or defy Him, we’re ultimately committing treason. Oswald Chambers said, “The essence of sin is the refusal to recognize that we are accountable to God at all!” So God hates sin because it ultimately usurps God and becomes our master.

Thirdly, God hates sin because it results in death. In the first few years of our married life we lived in a cottage that was plagued with rats. It was terrible. So I bought boxes of Rattex and placed them in the ceiling. The tasty night-time snack soon did its deadly work. What the rats thought was good, was actually deadly. That’s how it is with sin. It can taste really good at times, but the Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 (NIV). And that’s what God hates. He detests the fact that sin separates us from Him in the here and now, and ultimately separates us from Him in eternity.

This is the heart of the matter for God. “He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT). And that’s why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the once for all sacrifice for our sin. God hates sin, and because He does, He did something about it. He “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness ” Titus 2:14 (NIV). Yes, sin ruins lives, rejects God, and results in death. But that’s not the end of the story. God hated sin enough to do something about it. He became the solution for what He hated. He died on the cross of Calvary, the righteous for the unrighteous. Then He rose from the dead, to “set us free from sin” Romans 6:18 (NIV).

 

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 1 Kings 18:38 (NIV).

I’ve been praying for revival in Canada, on and off, for 25 years. I pray because I want something greater than political promises, greater than a good standard of living, greater than living among tolerant people, greater than safety, and greater than social freedom. The good is not the best. I want to see spiritual captives liberated, idols demolished, life sanctified, the weak made strong, the blind to see, and Hell depopulated.

Let the fire fall. Canada desperately needs a visitation from God – a revival from sea to sea. It’s happened before and it can happen again. God visited Mt. Carmel in power (1 Kings 18) and when Elijah prayed God answered by fire and by rain. Baal, the god of storms and lightning, was powerless … he couldn’t produce a spark to light a fire and he couldn’t produce rain. That’s to be expected because the idols of this world are toothless. And here’s something we need to remember, in a world full of powerless gods our God is all powerful. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Who will call on God for revival? God can use a man or woman to change a nation. Elijah called on God and received fire from heaven. In faith he believed God can start a fire with water drenched wood! Prayer moves the heart of God. Elijah prayed fervently and God sent showers of blessing. There were two outcomes: the people turned back to God and the drought came to an end (1 Kings 18:39-40, 41-45). Do you want to see Canada turn to God? Do you want to see the spiritual drought come to an end? “If the Lord is God, follow him” 1 Kings 18:21. Repair the altar of your heart, pray earnestly, act on God’s command, and expect God to act.

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT).

Christmas is about family. The reason why we’re alive, the reason why we’re breathing, the reason why our hearts are beating is because God wanted a family. You are not an accident. It doesn’t matter whether your parents planned you or not, what matters is that God planned you. There are no accidental babies. You were born because God made you to love you. He created you so He could love you and bring you into His family. And He wants to bring you into His family because He wants a relationship with you. This is what Christmas is all about. It’s about God doing everything possible to connect with us. It’s about God wanting you to know He loves you and wants a relationship with you.

Now you can miss the whole point of Christmas if you don’t know it’s about God wanting a family.

Thirty years ago I met a smashing woman named Karen Terhoven. We got to know each other and we fell in love. But getting to know each other and falling in love wasn’t enough. We needed a permanent relationship. On the 26^th March 1983 I stood in front of a packed church and said two words that changed everything – “I do.” “I do,” has bound Karen and me together in a permanent relationship.

Have you ever said “I do” to Jesus Christ? Jesus came to earth for a relationship. He didn’t come to found a religion. He didn’t come to formulate rules and rituals for us to live by. He came for a relationship. So the question is, have you ever said, “I do,” to Jesus? Have you ever said, “I want to be part of God’s family”? Have you ever said, “I need Christ’s forgiveness … I want to learn to love and trust Him … I want to live out the rest of my life for His purposes”?

If you’ve never said “I do,” I hope you’ll say it today. Christmas is about being part of God’s family and it begins by saying to Jesus, “I do.” You’re not here by accident. God wanted you here because He wanted you to know how much He loves you and how much He wants you in His family. Yes, God’s seen every tear, every hurt, and every heartache – He’s seen the good, the bad and the ugly – and He still loves you and wants you in His family. You are the reason for the season. Jesus wants a relationship with you. He wants you to say, “I do.”

 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10 (NIV).

People believe strange things about God. While more than 95% of North Americans believe in God, many have a distorted image of God. That’s because people try to picture God in their image. But God isn’t meant to be a figment of our imagination or a creation of our desires. God wants us to know what He’s like. So He came to earth in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ.

When Christ was embodied in flesh He destroyed the stereotypes about God. He did this by living right and teaching what is right. John 18:37 says, “This is why I was born and came into the world: to tell people the truth” (NCV). By telling the truth He cleared up the misconceptions about God. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God. The only One, who is the same as God … has made him known” (NIV).

The Bible is very clear on this point: Jesus is God, with skin on Him. John 14:9 says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (NIV). Billy Graham said, “When I want to know what God’s like I take a long look at Jesus Christ.” This is what separates Christian faith from other world religions: When Jesus was born He was no ordinary baby – He was God in the flesh.

Furthermore, Jesus is also, “the light to reveal God to the nations” Luke 2:32 (NLT). Pay attention to the word “light,” and the phrase “to reveal God.” Light helps us see things as they really are. When we’re in the dark we become disorientated and confused. That’s why Jesus came. That’s why there’s Christmas. Jesus came as the light so that we would no longer be perplexed. He came to help us see what God is really like. And in so doing He made it possible for the blind to see and the lost to get saved.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV).

You may have heard someone say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Christmas is about Jesus. God didn’t send an angel, prophet, assistant or representative. He sent Jesus. He came Himself. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son …” John 3:16 (NLT).

Not only is Jesus the reason for the season; we are the reason for the season! He came so we’d understand Him and know how much He loves us. If it wasn’t for you and me there wouldn’t be Christmas. Why? Because we need what Jesus came to bring. And what did Jesus bring? His presence.

At Christmas time we’re looking for the perfect present. But the best expression of love isn’t our presents, it’s our presence. It’s being there. In November 1996 I immigrated to Canada from South Africa. The family were scheduled to join me two months later. You can imagine the circumstances: loneliness and longing on both sides of the Atlantic; love separated by the equator; hearts divided by the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Just before Christmas a letter arrived from my daughter Christie. She was eleven years old at the time. Opening the letter, I found a piece of red paper with a poem she’d written. This is her poem:

Twas Christmas Eve I do believe,

But still we were quite sad.

The tree was lit,

The stockings hung,

And all we missed was Dad.

Though we were in a summer clime,

We’d rather be with you this time.

Have a merry Christmas Dad

And a New Year too.

And don’t forget the child at home

Who’s thinking about you.

So as I kneel next to my bed

And pray a silent prayer

My thoughts are all for you Daddy,

For your good health and care.

I cried when I read: “And all we missed was Dad.” At Christmas people want our love, they want us to be there. 1 John 4:9-10 says, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love … that … God … sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (NLT) Pay attention to the phrase “showed how much he loved us.” Real love is something that’s shown. Real love is about giving; about sacrifice; about setting aside my desires, my needs, and my preferences to help someone else be all God meant for them to be. God showed how much He loved us by sending His “only Son into the world that we might have eternal life through Him.”

Even if you were the only person who lived in the world, Jesus Christ still would have come to earth to live and die for you so you could be with Him forever in Heaven. This is the purpose of Christmas. Jesus came because you matter to God. He came so you could experience His love for yourself, to let you know that you’re not alone in this world, and to be here for you.

Death has been swallowed up in victory … Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 15:54, 57 (NIV).

Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, and then, according to Romans 10:7 and Ephesians 4:10, He descended into Hell.

This is my conjecture of the scene in Hell: Demons in an ecstasy of glee – strutting and parading, gloating and cackling as they celebrate the death and demise of the Son of God. Then Satan arrives amidst thunderous applause. There’s backslapping and high-fives. Congratulations for finally winning what they believed to be the ultimate victory. And there, in their midst, the Son of God is their prisoner. He’s defeated at last. He’s stripped of dignity, friends, life. He’s been abandoned by the Father (cf. Matthew 27:46) and cursed for being hung on a tree (cf. Galatians 3:13). As the demons celebrate – creation groans. The earth shakes and the rocks split open (cf. Matthew 27:51). Men and women are terrified and filled with dread (cf. Matthew 27:54). It seems as if the greatest of tragedies has occurred. It appears as if Satan has defeated God.

But Christ is Christ! What appears to be irreversible is reversible. Christ is stripped of life, but He isn’t stripped of His power over death. He is abandoned by the Father, but He’s still the Son of God. And more … Hell could not hold Him because the love of Christ is the antithesis of evil!

This is the good news! What at first appeared as a tragedy for Christ was actually the greatest of triumphs. Christ was not defeated – He had come to defeat! “The cross was the fish hook that trapped the devil” Gregory of Nyssa (AD 335-395). “The hook of Divinity was clothed in the bait of humanity” Origen (2^nd Century theologian). And “The death of our Lord was the bait of the mousetrap that caught Satan” Augustine (4^th Century church father). Colossians 2:15 says, “. . .  having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

What a reversal! Good Friday is the day death died. Hallelujah! Death was “swallowed up in victory” 1 Corinthians 15:54. Death was denied its sting (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55). The victim had become the victor. Christ had conquered sin and Hell! Death couldn’t stop Him or hold Him. Christ turned a disaster into a coronation and a martyrdom into a triumph. Light is greater than darkness. Satan was defeated once for all. Christ has dealt with sin, descended into Hell, and been victorious in Satan’s backyard. “Surely he was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54.

So what does this mean for you and me? It means that because Christ is the victor, we can be victorious. That’s because “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” 1 John 4:4 (NIV).

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Matthew 27:45-46 (NIV).

Christ’s death is the tragedy at the heart of the Christian faith. As we read the Scriptures we see that Christ suffered the humiliation and shame of being stripped naked, flogged, spat on, struck in the face, garlanded with thorns, bullied, mocked and finally nailed to a cross and crucified. It’s an appalling story. Christ is the victim of religious thuggery, political jockeying, and military bullying.

There’s more to the narrative concerning Jesus’ death than what first meets the eye. Yes Jesus was a victim. But He was a willing victim. In accordance with His Father’s will He subjected Himself to a mockery of a trial, to the brutal beating at the hands of Pilate’s and Herod’s guards, and to the jeers and catcalls of the spectators lining the road as He staggered up the hill under the burden of the cross. And more, He allowed the steel spikes to be driven through His wrists and ankles when He was fastened to the cross. Amazingly, because it was completely in His power to resist, Christ chose to subject Himself to the agony and ignominy of the cross.

It’s astounding, isn’t it? Christ is the Word of God, the life and light of the world (John 1:1). “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3 (NIV). And yet remarkably, on that dark Friday more than two thousand years ago, Christ demonstrates extraordinary restraint. He allows His creation to crucify their Creator! With every lash of the whip and every fibrous crunch of fist against flesh, Christ could have called a halt. With one word, He could have brought His ordeal to an end. With one word, He could have summoned legion upon legion of angels to come to His assistance. With one word, He could have wiped out every one of His antagonists. But He didn’t, and He wouldn’t, because Christ chose to be the victim. He chose to give up his spirit (cf. Matthew 27:50).

This is the good news! The death of Christ on that bleak hillside was the God of history working out His plan to reconcile the world to Himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19). The people at the foot of the cross couldn’t see this. But we know the rest of the story. We know that Christ chose to be our sacrificial lamb. He chose to be the once for all sacrifice for our sin, chose to endure the suffering of the cross,   chose to take upon Himself the sins of the world, and chose to face death.

Words are inadequate to describe what Christ chose to do. Yes He was a victim – but he was a willing victim. The death of Christ was not in vain. He gave up His life for the greatest cause of all – to bring together sinful man with a holy God.

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2 (NIV).

Today’s Scripture text addresses what we must do, when we must do it, and how we must do it:

What we must do:

“Preach the word.” Preaching is unique. It’s not a talk about spiritual matters. It’s taking a stand with God’s Word and allowing God, by the Holy Spirit, to speak the Word through you. It involves challenging, warning and urging people (correct, rebuke, encourage). And it’s making the Scriptures the main point, not the footnote of what we’re saying.

When we must do it:

“In season and out of season.” That means when it’s favourable, and when it’s not! Preach the Word when you’re feeling down, and when you’re feeling up. Preach the Word when people say you can, and when people say you can’t. Preach the Word when it’s convenient and when it’s inconvenient. In God’s economy there is no good time or bad time for preaching the Word. And there’s no time out. God wants us to preach the Word all the time!

How we must do it:

“With great patience and careful instruction.” In other words, don’t quit and keep it simple. It’s a long obedience in the same direction. And we must do it graciously, thoughtfully, mercifully and faithfully while never losing sight of the fact that it’s not our words, but His Word we proclaim.

Are you preaching the Word? Secular society tells us to keep our faith private. Tolerance would have us believe that it’s wrong to proclaim God’s Word in the public square. Don’t listen to the Devils attempts to silence or marginalize the Word. We should proclaim divine truth wherever and whenever we can.

Do you want your friends and family to know Christ? Preach the word! Most people have never read the Bible in part or whole. To know the Word, people have to hear the Word. To hear the Word, someone has to proclaim the Word. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Romans 10:14 (NIV).

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 (NIV).

Why should we celebrate the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist/Communion? Here are some reasons:

To come together. The Greek word koinonia means community, from which we get the word ‘communion’  meaning to participate together as a sign of our unity in Christ and with each other … we’re a unique eschatological community in which Christ is present.

To give thanks. In the 2nd Century it came to be called the Eucharist from the Greek eucharisteo which means ‘to give thanks’. “And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me'” 1Corinthians 11:24 (NIV).

To participate in the life of God. His life becomes our life and we become members of each other. “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (NIV).

To keep us focused. Communion is a sermon without words, a picture of the cross, a memorial to the death and resurrection of Christ, a reminder of all that Jesus has done to reconcile us with God.

To be real with God. We are all sinners saved by grace, all at the same level. This is beautifully illustrated in the story of the Duke of Wellington who, after defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, went to a little church to celebrate the Eucharist. There was an old man at the altar who had come to break bread and the priest/minister asked the old man to move away. But Wellington intervened. He grabbed the old man’s arm and insisted he break bread with him … saying, “Here we are all equal.”

To sustain us. Communion is symbolic of the fact that we all need spiritual nourishment and to get that nourishment we must keep coming back to Christ.

To remember. We should look back and keep the crucifixion in mind – “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me'” Luke 22:19 (NIV). And we should look forward to His coming again – “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV).

To renew our commitment, to rededicate ourselves to Christ. He is God and we are not!

To be connected with the Lord and with others. One of the four marks of a Spirit-filled community is that “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” Acts 2:42 (NIV).

To consecrate ourselves – to set ourselves apart, to dedicate ourselves as the people of God.

To know that we have a unique identity, a new identity and have been given the gift of God’s Spirit.

To celebrate. We’ve been set free from sin! We’ve been reconciled with God! We have a future and a hope! “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” Revelation 19:9.

To do what we’re told to do. It’s a command (1 Corinthians 11:24 “Do this …”).

To examine ourselves. “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup” 1 Corinthians 11:28 (NIV).

To proclaim His death until He comes. It’s a statement of our faith. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV).