Saint Valentine's Day (commonly
shortened to Valentine's Day) is an annual holiday held on
February 14 celebrating love
and affection
between intimate companions.The holiday is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine
and was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD
500. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each
other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery,
and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").
The holiday first became associated with romantic
love in the circle of Geoffrey
Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly
love flourished.
Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped
outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th
century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced greeting
cards. (From Wikipedia)
According
to John, the writer of the fourth gospel, there was quite a party going on in
his modest home in Bethany. Parallel passages tell us Simon, a leper Jesus
healed was there and so was Lazarus – the man Jesus brought back to life.
Lazarus sister Martha was there with her unquenchable gifts of hospitality. So
was Lazarus other sister Mary who often spent time sitting with Jesus caught up
in the stories. The disciples were there and of course the guest of honor
Jesus.
When they
had finished eating Martha readied up the table as the men were lost in
conversations. Mary, who had on another occasion, been accused by her sister of
being a slacker for not helping with the dishes resisted her chores again.
Mary’s in her room rummaging through her hope chest. She knows exactly what
she’s looking for… She comes back in the dining room, dodges her sister Martha
and quietly weaves her way around the dinner table to position herself at
Jesus’ feet. Quietly she works to open a large jar --- one that had probably
been sealed since her birth. She reaches inside, scoops out some of its
fragrant content and with circular motions begins to smother Jesus feet. She
continue scooping and wiping until there is so much on Jesus feet she need to
mop up some of it with her hair. The fragrance fogged the room. Imagine the
stunned silence of the group. John tells us the twelve ounces jars are worth a
small fortune – the equivalent of 300 days wages. Almost a year income! Judas
quickly calculates its value and immediately objects to her wastefulness. He
feigns concern for the poor. How much better it would have been had Mary given
the perfume to him so he could sell it to help the needy. John adds,
parenthetically, that Judas was a thief and simply wanted the money for
himself. Jesus puts an end to the debate by graciously accepting Mary’s gift
and the heart behind it. From this story we glean three things that anchor us
in what the bible says about giving – the way we think about use of God’s
resources:
Let’s
look at the biblical teaching behind this: Psalms 21: 1, the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it!? It
all comes from God and belongs to Him. We read in 2 Chronicles 29:16, Lord our God, even these materials that we have
gathered to build a temple to honor his name comes from you! It all belongs to
you!? Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 4:7, what
do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why
boast as though you’ve accomplished something on your own. Mary, I believe,
could make such a lavish gift, because she understood this over arching principle
of life. Everything we have comes from God and belongs to Him. Contrast the
response of Judas whose actions betrayed his attitude of, it may have all come
from God but its mine now! I was talking with one of our members the other day
and asked the question why do some people react so negatively to stewardship
teaching?? I think their answer was right on, it’s because they believe what
they have is truly their own. They earned it, they invested it, they bought it,
and it’s theirs!? It’s a problem of ownership! Let me ask you all this
afternoon: What do you have that God didn’t give you? Let’s look at your life.
You didn’t create yourself. God did that. Your very life was given you by God.
Your mind is a gift from
God. Your ability to think and plan and acting ways that makes you? Employable
all comes from God; the talents, skills, gifts you have that enables you to
earn a living all of them are from God! Everything you purchase and own comes
as a result of all God has given you! Everything! So, if we accept this as true
we see that our giving to God is really an offering back of what already belong
to Him.
Remember, Mary’s brother
Lazarus had died. He had been in the tomb four days. There was no hope of his
return. Jesus came and restored his life and gave back to Mary and Martha. How
do you put a price on such a gift? Mary’s giving has flowed out of her heart
bursting with gratitude. How can you offer the one who gave you life, the one
who brought hope in a hopeless situation anything less than everything you are
and have? Christian giving flows not out of a heart of obligation but of
gratitude. Judas couldn’t grasp this because, if he gave at all, it was a cold
and calculated kind of giving that asks not how much can I give but how much
will I have left for myself? Judas suffered what many people including
Christians are afflicted with in our culture- affluenza.
The need to get more and more stuff for ourselves while lessening our desire
and ability to give. Is your giving to God flowing from heart of gratefulness for
all that the Lord has done in your life? What’s He done? Well, if you are a Christian,
He has given birth to you twice! Once through your parents, and again when Jesus
died on the cross. Jesus shed his own blood to purchase your soul, to save you
from sin and its eternal consequences of hell. Through his sacrificial act of
love, He re-births you. You are born
again into a new life. Paul puts it this way, you do not belong to yourself for
God bought you with a high price (1
Corinthians 6: 19 – 20) in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul
writes, those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same
anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!? Jesus said in John 3: 3, I assure you, unless you’re born again, you can
never see the Kingdom of God.? If you’re a Christian your giving to God
ultimately flows out of a heart filled with gratitude for the new life for the
eternal life – God has given you in Jesus! Everything we have comes from God
and belongs to Him. Our giving to God flows out of heart of gratitude. And finally:
My giving to God should
stretch me. It should cause me to rethink my spending. It should affect even
the priorities in my life. Did Mary’s gift cost her something? Well, aside from
being worth well over $10,000, and losing the security of the kind of money for
future needs, it may have cost her personal honor. You see what made that
perfume so expensive was its intended use. Special oils and spices were
imported from India and combined with native extracts to create anointing oil
used exclusively to embalm its owner. That’s right! Mary understood Jesus
ultimate purpose in coming. She pointed to his eventual by anointing him with
her own embalming ointment. She offered a gift that personally cost her something!
In the book of 2
Samuel 24: 21 – 24 we
read of King David securing the land where the Temple would be built. The owner
of the land, Arauna, offered to give the land and all
its natural resources to David free of charge. David exercised this third principle
when he replied to Araunah, No, I insist on buying
it, for I cannot offer to God that which cost me nothing? What we offer to God
is an expression of who we are and what we value most in life. If you want to
know what I truly believe and what I almost committed to don’t ask me, examine
my calendar where I spend my time. Take a look at the ministries I’m invested
in my talents. Study my checkbook. Look at where my money is going. There’s a
disconnected somewhere when over 80% of all American profess a faith in God and
in His Son, Jesus Christ and the average of these households commit less that
2% of their gross annual income to God’s work! Jesus said, wherever your
treasure is there your heart and thoughts will also be. Want to know what has
captured your heart and mind? Take a look at what your treasure! A gift worth
giving to God must ultimately cost us something!
Each person in this place
has an opportunity to something that may be more spiritually significant than
anything else we do this year. That is to come before God, the center of our
worship and devotion, break ourselves open our time, talents, treasure and
trust our best and pour them out for Him for the sake of His Kingdom and His church
use to consecrate your gift to Him. Everything we have come from God and belong
to Him. The kind of giving that honors God flows from hearts of gratitude. As
we celebrate valentines, the big question should be: If I claim I love the Lord
and that he is all in all to me, what will I give him today? As the world all
over exchanges roses, cards and some others gifts; between fallen and sinful
human beings and possibly some of them won’t be in love comes next year;
WHAT
WILL YOU GIVE HIM TODAY AND FOREVER?