The Best Choice: Our Devotion to Christ

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. Mary realized Jesus was coming to die on the cross, and she wanted to do something for him to show her love. Mary demonstrated her love for Jesus in an extravagant way. Many were surprised, but Pastor Greg Laurie says she actually set a good example. The more we discover about what Jesus has done for us will cause us to want to do more for him. The Bible says we love him because he first loved us. If the gift someone gives you is modest, your expression of thanks can likewise be modest.

When the gift is extraordinary, a modern etiquette expert says keep the level of the thank you near the level of the kindness you received. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to a memorable moment in Jesus' ministry. When gratitude was extended him at such a generous level, it drew attention and even criticism from the disciples. But Pastor Greg explains Jesus commended Mary. Let's pick up where we last left off in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is headed to the cross. He has plainly declared that to his disciples at a place called Caesarea Philippi.

He told them he was going to be betrayed, he was going to be crucified, and he would rise again on the third day. And this came as bad news to his boys because his popularity was at its total peak. The name of Jesus was on everyone's lips. He was trending on social media.

Well, he would have been if this happened today. Matthew 12 verse 12 said, large crowds gathered to him and he got into a boat and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And then Luke 12 one says, thousands of people had gathered together and they were stepping on one another. So everybody wanted to get close to Jesus.

And so he was very popular. But ironically, the same people that were expressing their interest in him would soon turn against him when he made his way to the cross. Even his own hand-picked disciples did not fully understand what he was about to do. He had come to die on the cross.

This was always the plan from the very beginning. And even though he spoke about it in great detail, his disciples missed it with one exception. And it wasn't John known for his spiritual perception.

It wasn't Peter normally known for his outspokenness. It wasn't Andrew. It wasn't Matthew. It wasn't one of the apostles. It wasn't a man.

It was a woman. And she was not one of the apostles. But she understood what Jesus had come to do. And her name was Mary. Now there is a lot of Marys in the Bible.

So sometimes we get confused. First of all there is Mary the mother of Jesus. Then there is Mary Magdalene. And then there is Mary and Martha.

Ok. So this is Mary of Mary and Martha fame. It is worth noting that every time we read of Mary she is sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Maybe that is why she had this great insight. We remember one occasion when Jesus came over to her home where she lived with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus. And Martha went into the kitchen to make a great feast for Jesus. And Mary was just sitting at his feet. And this frustrated Martha.

Because it is a lot of work to prepare a meal. And she comes out demanding that Mary join her in the kitchen. And Jesus made an amazing statement to Martha.

He said Martha Martha you are worried and upset about many things. But one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it won't not be taken from her. Think about that. Mary chose what is better. We have that same choice. To do the right thing. To not do the wrong thing.

We can be like manic Martha's flitting here and there going about our business. Or we can be like Mary and take the time to sit at his feet and hear what he has to say. And when you choose what is better as Jesus said Mary did you are making the best choice. And that is where she discovered this essential truth. Mary realized Jesus was coming to die on the cross. I know it seems obvious to us now.

But no one else got this. She knew he was coming to die on the cross. And she also understood that is where he was now headed. She thought I have got to do something profound. I have to do something significant that will show my thankfulness to him. My love for him. My devotion to him.

So she brings this great gift. And Jesus said this will now be a memorial to her wherever the gospel is preached. So what exactly did Mary do? What was this profound gift that so moved Jesus he wanted to memorialize it?

Let's read about it now. Mark chapter 14 starting in verse 1. Now the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread were only two days away. And the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.

But not during the festival they said or the people may riot. 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. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those who were present said oh this is worth more than a year's wages. Why this waste of perfume?

This could have been sold and the money could have been given to the poor. And they rebuked her harshly. Now look at the response of Jesus. He said leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? The poor you always have with you and you can help them any time you want.

But you don't always have me with you. She did what she could. She poured perfume in my body beforehand in preparation for my burial.

And I say to you wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world what she has done will be told in memory of her. Now just stop and think about this. This is a meal. This is a dinner. And what a collection of people. We've got the Lord himself there. But you know who else was there? Lazarus. Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha who had just been raised from the dead. Man I would have wanted to ask Lazarus a few questions.

So wow what happened? What was it like to die and go to the other side? And what did you see there?

Incredible. So they're all gathered around probably talking to Lazarus and a lot of questions for Jesus. He had just delivered what we call the Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24. And basically that's where Jesus talked about the end times. And they probably had more questions about that.

What did you mean when you said the abomination of desolation? And explain this all to us. So this was quite the night that they were having together. But everything was sort of coming to a head in the life and ministry of Jesus. And now Mary watching all of this is so moved. She knows what Jesus is about to do.

So she does this. Verse three a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume and broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Now this probably was a family heirloom. As it's been pointed out it was worth a year's wages. So it was worth thousands and thousands of dollars. Under normal circumstances just a few drops from a bottle like this would be sufficient.

She pours the whole bottle on him and then wipes his feet with her hair. But Judas is very critical. Maybe he has his little calculator out. He knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. He calculated it and said this is a waste.

And it did seem like a waste but it actually wasn't a waste at all. I read that one of the most expensive perfumes that you can buy is called Clive Christian Number One Imperial Majesty. Oh my.

That's a very impressive title isn't it? It's a combination of mandarin orange, Indian jasmine, white peach, lemon, and more. And it costs you two hundred thousand dollars a bottle. Oh but wait they deliver it in a Bentley. So that's a lot of money to spend on perfume.

But it even gets crazier. The most expensive perfume you can buy today is called here you go sucker. No I made that up. It's actually called Shamaku. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that right. And frankly I don't even care. But this comes in a crystal bottle covered in diamonds, pearls, and gold. And how much does it cost?

Are you ready for this? One million two hundred and ninety five thousand dollars. Then again you can go over to Amazon and order some Jade East for around twenty two dollars. Or High Karate for fifty six dollars. Or Old Spice for about thirteen dollars.

And there's Brut. Don't forget that. But you know the idea here is it's not how much this cost. It's how much it cost her.

It cost her a lot. She was giving the most precious thing she owned to Jesus. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Pastor Greg Laurie talks about his new book Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Billy said to me I'm just a country preacher. He was just a country preacher but God elevated him. And he had packed events thousands of young people and when he spoke those kids listened.

You could have heard a pin drop. Are you forgiven? Are you sure of it? Are you certain that God has forgiven you? Well that's why Christ died on the cross and that's why he rose again. So that you might be forgiven. You say do you believe in instant salvation? I certainly do. Now is your moment.

Write this instant. Who could have ever thought that that lanky farm boy would go on to be the greatest evangelist in history? So I write about that a lot more in this new book I've written called Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Get to know the country preacher who saw millions come to Christ. Let Pastor Greg introduce you to Billy Graham the Man I Knew, a brand new biography available for your gift of any size at harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg is pointing out that Mary, Martha's sister, gave the most precious thing she had to the Lord. It was a surprising gesture but the Lord commended her.

Pastor Greg continues but if you missed any part of today's presentation get caught up at harvest.org. What is the most precious thing that you own? What is more valuable to you than anything else? Now question. Would you be willing to give that to Jesus?

That's what this is all about. We remember the story of that young man we call the rich young ruler. He came to Jesus in this super cool trick that out. Chariot. Lowered.

Drinking a latte. Probably not. But he comes up to Jesus and he says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus reminds him of some of the commandments and this rich young ruler says, well all these I've kept from my youth up. And Jesus probably laughed out loud. The Bible doesn't say but no one's kept the commandments from his youth up.

And here's what I find fascinating. After this brash and arrogant young man said he had kept the commandments we read this statement. Jesus looked at the man and felt genuine love for him. And then Jesus made this statement. There's one thing you haven't done. Go and sow your possessions and give the money to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.

Listen to this. And then the man's face fell and he went away sad because he had great wealth. Understand this was never about the man's stuff. Jesus didn't want his stuff. He just saw that in the heart of this young man those things were more important to him than anything else including God. He says there's one thing you need to do. See that young ruler missed the one thing and he walked away sad.

He wasn't willing to let it go. But Mary she got that one thing. One thing is essential Jesus said of Mary and she has chosen it. Well Judas did not get it and so he criticized it.

Judas is typical of so many people today. Like dutiful Pharisees they want to give the bare minimum to God. They'll lamely ask questions like can you do this and still technically go to heaven? Can I get away with this and still call myself a Christian?

Those are the wrong questions. We'll give our leftovers to God if you will. We'll pray briefly if we think of it. We'll read the Bible if we can make time in our busy schedules for it. And then what's even worse is we will criticize others that are more committed to the Lord than we are. Maybe that's one of the reasons why the early church changed their world. Maybe that's why the early church turned their world upside down because they had a sense of abandon. God would tell Philip go to the desert and he went in obedience to the Lord. God would tell Peter reach down and take that man by the hand and pull him to his feet and he would do it. They took risks and they left their comfort zone.

Why? Because the Scripture says they had been with Jesus. Acts 4 13 says the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John because they were ordinary men. They had no special training but they recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. Can someone tell you've been with Jesus? Can they see it reflected in your life? Does the fragrance of your life fill the room as it did with Mary and her gift to the Lord? It's a wonderful thing when people see that and ask us why we are the way that we are and they want to know more about us and then we can share the gospel. Now again I want to emphasize Mary did not have the same privileges as the disciples.

They spent pretty much every waking hour in the presence of Jesus for some three years. She was with him sporadically but she was going to take advantage of this opportunity. She's going to listen to him. She's going to learn from him and she's going to bring a great gift to him because she could see the lines etching his face and read or write the problems reflected in his eyes and she understood he had said what he meant and he meant what he said.

He was going to die on a cross and that broke her heart so she was going to bring her tribute to Jesus now. She would not wait until he was gone and I want to remind you right now there might be someone that you know and love and I want to ask you when's the last time you told them you loved them? Well I'll see some day nights at their funeral service. Well they won't be around to hear that will they?

So bring your flowers now. If there's someone you love and appreciate tell them now. If you have regrets deal with that now and make the appropriate changes. If there's someone you need to forgive do it now and why should you forgive someone? You say well they don't deserve my forgiveness. My response is do you deserve to be forgiven by God?

The answer is no. So the Bible says forgive as God in Christ has forgiven you. See forgiving a person isn't letting them off the hook.

It's a way for you to get free of your bitterness because the one that's being hurt more by your lack of forgiveness is not the person that hurts you it's you. As I've said so many times when you forgive a person you set a prisoner free yourself. And so this woman said I'm going to do it now. Listen now is the time to share that gospel with the person. Now is the time to make that change in your life.

Seize the moment. Carpe diem is the expression. That's exactly what Mary did. But of course Judas thought it was a waste and he criticized her for it. But then John gives us an interesting little detail about Judas. He said Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor. He said this because he was a thief.

Basically Judas was hanging onto the money for the disciples and he was pocketing it. And so this had nothing to do with this concern for the poor. And that reminds me of a very important point about critical people. Sometimes the people that complain the most actually do the very least. And sometimes the people who are aiming accusations at you are revealing something about themselves.

The thing they're accusing you of is actually what they are personally guilty of. After all it was Judas who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. So careful if you're always harping on a certain sin over and over again you may be telling us more about yourself than you want to reveal. And so things are not always as they seem. From the outside Judas looked thrifty and careful and spiritual. And the woman looked frivolous and wasteful and silly. But the very opposite was true. Judas was evil and greedy and wicked and she was thoughtful and godly and committed.

So things are not always as they appear. You know we always think Judas would have been the easiest guy to identify. You know all the other disciples wore white robes and he wore a black robe. A black leather robe with a collar turned up right?

No of course not. In fact Judas was such a good actor. Such an effective faker that when Jesus said one of you is going to betray me no one suspected Judas. You would have thought that someone would have said I bet it's Matthew.

He used to work for Rome. It's him isn't it? No. They said is it me? No one thought Judas if he was as obvious as people thought he might have been they would have all pointed in unison and said it's Judas isn't it? The guy who wears the black robe. No no one suspected Judas because he was such a good actor but he was a liar. And it's interesting because Judas accused her of being wasteful. Yet Jesus would say of Judas he was the son of waste.

Jesus called Judas the son of perdition which means the son of waste. He was the very thing he accused her of being. Now Jesus commends her as an example to us.

Look at verse eight. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. She did what she could because she understood that he would do what he did. In the same way the more we discover about what Jesus has done for us will cause us to want to do more for him. The Bible says we love him because he first loved us. She saw this love that was driving him.

She saw this concern for her and the others and all of humanity and so she wanted to do something for him to show her love. Good inspiration for us today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie pointing out Mary's extravagant love and gratitude for the Lord. And there's more to come from this message. But if you missed any part of it, you can hear what you missed at our website, harvest.org.

Just look for the message title, The Best Choice. Well, Pastor Greg, we're talking about Billy Graham. Yes. Of course, many of our listeners are reading your new book, Billy Graham, The Man I Knew.

And you've been revealing some surprises to us based on the content of the book. Yeah. One of them is that he knew how to use media like few other people of his time. He used it not only to help spread the gospel but to build a platform for his ministry.

Yeah. And that started early on in his ministry when he was having a short stint as a pastor. He was on a radio program that was simply called Songs in the Night. That's where he met George Beverly Shea who went on to become his song leader at his crusades.

And they were a team of Billy, Bev as they called him, George Beverly Shea, Bev, and Cliff Barrows. But Billy understood the power of media. You know, Howard Stern likes to call himself the king of all media.

The fact is, Billy was the first king of all media. As his ministry was taking off, he went on radio. Now, we're used to hearing Christian radio. There were no Christian radio stations for the most part back then. But he was going out in major radio stations with his program called the Hour of Disceiving. Some of our listeners may even remember it. This is what his show sounded like, the Hour of Decision. Let's go back in time.

Listen to this. The greatest word in all the world is forgiveness. Are you forgiven? Are you sure of it?

Are you certain that God has forgiven you? But then he also was one of the pioneers of Christian television. I don't even know if you would call it Christian television. He was a Christian on television, but he would buy time on the major networks locally, nationally, and broadcast the gospel. And so many of us remember watching Billy Graham on TV.

I remember I was living with my grandparents in Southgate in California, and we would watch Billy Graham on our black and white television set. And if that wasn't enough, he also started a film studio in Hollywood called Worldwide Pictures. And they made films that they released in theaters, and they were beautiful films that always had an evangelistic message. In addition to that, he wrote a column called My Answer that ran six days a week in newspapers across the United States and reached 20 million people. He founded two monthly magazines, Christianity Today and Decision Magazine. And he also was an early adopter of satellite tech and the internet. I remember I was with them in Puerto Rico for an event that they called Mission World.

And they took these satellite dishes and beamed them all around the planet. So Billy utilized all forms of media to reach as many people as he possibly could. So that's just one of the many things I bring out in this book that I wrote about Billy called Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. I also tell a lot of personal stories, conversations we had, things that he said to me, impressions I got from watching him up close and personal.

And I want to share that with you. I feel after you've read this book, you'll feel like you kind of knew Billy Graham as well. So if you want to order a copy, we're offering it right now for your gift of any size. Whatever you can send to support Harvest Ministries, we'll then send you in return a copy of Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. Now, some of you can send a lot, and that's appreciated because we'll invest it in teaching the Bible and getting the gospel out here in a new beginning.

But some of you maybe can only send a little. We'll send you a copy as well. So order your copy of my brand new book, Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. Yeah, it's a landmark overview of Billy's life with exhaustive, painstaking research that literally took years. In spite of how well Pastor Greg knew Billy personally, he found out so much more during that in-depth research.

And you'll benefit from these deep insights. So we hope you'll get in touch for your own copy of Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. As Pastor Greg said, we'll send it to you to say thank you for your donation of any size. Thanks for your investment right now.

And to thank you tangibly, we'll send you a copy of the new book, Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. Just write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call around the clock at 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you've been teaching the Bible here on radio for many years now. In fact, almost 40 years. But you have some exciting news about television. Yeah, Dave, I'm very excited to share this news with our listeners and supporters.

Listen, everybody. We're launching a new television program called Harvest with Greg Laurie to major TV networks across the United States. This show will air on Sunday mornings on some networks you might be familiar with, like the Lifetime Network, Fox Business Network, Newsmax, Daystar, TBN, and KCAL here in Los Angeles. Combined, these air times will reach, listen to this, over 60 million viewers annually.

That is exciting. And some of these are secular TV networks, so we're reaching more people who need to hear the gospel. So I'm really excited about this, and I'm also grateful for our Harvest partners and donors who have helped us launch this new TV program. Join us Sunday mornings.

You can find air times at harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight on the wise choice Mary made, contrasted with the choice of her chief critic, Judas Iscariot. Join us next time on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie.

Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it, just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.