Steven Furtick - Go 4 Broke (12/11/2018)
In Mark 14:1-11, a woman breaks an expensive alabaster jar of pure nard perfume and pours it on Jesus' head as extravagant worship and preparation for His burial, despite criticism that it was wasteful. Jesus defends her, saying she did a beautiful thing and her act will be remembered wherever the gospel is preached. Pastor Steven uses this to inspire the church's year-end offering: go for broke in giving, breaking jars of complacency, greed, scarcity, and barriers so the gospel spreads freely as a sweet aroma, mirroring Jesus who went all in for us.
A Prayer of Surrender and Seeking God's Presence
Father, now as our faith rises and as your praises fill our hearts, we ask that you would come and have your way among us. We have set aside this time for you to have your way. So we put our agendas aside and we cast all of our anxieties out. We banish them far from our thoughts and from our consciousness now.
We come into your presence, not because we deserve to be in your presence or not because it's always convenient to be in your presence, but because in your presence, that's the only place we can find peace. That's the only place we can find rest for our soul. We've been so weary and heavy-laden trying to figure things out and fix things on our own, but we come into your presence and you touch us and you mend us and you make us whole again.
You pick us up and you set us back on a path that we've wandered from so many times, but you are still our destination and our companion, and we thank you for being with us every step along the way. Lord, I know that it was you. It was you that kept me, and it was you that blessed me. It was you that taught me. It was you that caught me when I was falling. You were there. When I arose, you were there.
Thanksgiving for Mountains and Valleys
I thank you, Lord, for every mountain that you've let me see, every summit that you've allowed me to stand on. I also thank you for every valley that you enabled me to go through and what you taught me in those places as well. I thank you that everything we need is in your presence, and nothing good will you withhold from those who seek you.
We came to seek you today, O God of Jacob, to seek your face, not just your hand, but we want to know your ways. We thank you that not one person in this place has escaped your notice, and not one need is beneath your attention.
Lord, now I speak a blessing over my brothers and sisters. I've gathered now some in the room, many more online all around the world. We've been expecting you to move on this day. This day is holy unto you. We've consecrated ourselves. We've come into this moment with hearts full of gratitude, and we don't want to just rush past it. This is a significant season in our lives, and we want to be aligned with you.
The Lord's Prayer and Global Blessing
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, right here as it is in heaven. Valentine as it is in heaven. University City as it is in heaven. Matthews as it is in heaven. Toronto as it is in heaven. Kampala, Uganda as it is in heaven. Sydney, Australia as it is in heaven. Johannesburg as it is in heaven. Cape Town as it is in heaven.
Lord, I ask that everywhere that the sound of this message reaches today, each person would sense and know in a very real way that this is a pre-appointed, scheduled encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. We clear out all distractions. Give us an undivided heart in this moment.
I prophesy to every dry bone. Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says. You shall live, come to life, and stand up on your feet like a vast great army. From the north, the south, the east, and the west, we speak to the wind of the Spirit of God. We ask that you would breathe into these slain, that they may live.
Come now, Holy Spirit. Through every iPhone screen, come, Holy Spirit. In every auditorium, come, Holy Spirit. In every home, come, Holy Spirit. In every car, through every podcast, on every television screen, come, Holy Spirit. Come like a mighty wind, like a rushing wind. Amen.
We came today to declare that the Devil is defeated and he has no place in our lives. You know what happens when praises go up, blessings come down. Come on, let's give him one more worthy praise. Amen.
Introducing the Message – Going for Broke
I just want you to sit down right now and take one moment with me. Would you stay with me the whole time if you need somewhere to sit? Right in a minute we're going to worship and we're going to give, and it's going to be amazing.
I want to share a thought from Mark, chapter 14, verses 1 through 9, but I feel like the people who came to church today want me to go all the way to verse 11, so that's what I'm going to do. Speaking of who's joining us today, it's kind of complicated. We designated this weekend for our offering, and of course we've been in this series.
You can just stay right underneath me, LJ. Thank you so much. I appreciate the atmosphere. It helps me sound more spiritual while you play. It adds like 25% Holy Spirit effect on me. Theologically, I don't actually believe that.
When we planned this out for Game Changer, trying to get ready to give together, which is really nothing to be nervous about because all that God will ever ask of you is for you to give your best because that's what he did for you. He gave his best. As long as you're doing that, you don't have to worry about it.
The word God gave me today was from a very beautiful picture in Scripture from Mark, chapter 14. 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…. I mention that word because while they were scheming to do what they were scheming to do, someone else was scheming to do something as well. So just put your finger on that word.
Remember, they 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… Now, you thought your nickname from high school was bad. This dude was obviously healed by this point because nobody would be in his home for dinner if he still had a contagious skin disease.
You won't even let your kids get around people with runny noses, so you know he was healed. That's probably why he had the dinner was because he was grateful for his healing. I found out that when God touches your life, the first thing you want to do is open your life back up to him. Out of gratitude for what he's done for you, you want to give back something to him and to others.
Gratitude Opens Life to God
Usually when God does something in our lives, our instinct a lot of times maybe is to feel like we're not worthy of it or not deserving of it and we feel guilty about it, but all God ever wanted you to do was to open your life to him. So I'm about to show you a picture of what that looks like and what this offering is going to look like as we bring it today online and at our campuses that are able to have church right now and here in this room as well.
So watch this. It says that a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. This is not Tommy Hilfiger from 1996. This is the pure nard from the Himalayan mountains. She broke the jar and poured perfume on his head.
Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, why this waste of perfume could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor. They rebuked her harshly. Jesus said, this isn't your party. Leave her alone. Touch somebody and say, leave me alone.
I don't care if you thought I sang good, I wasn't singing to you today. I don't care if you think it's weird when I lift my hands, I wasn't lifting them to you. You didn't save me, you didn't raise me, you didn't heal me, you didn't cleanse me, you didn't forgive me, and you don't have a heaven or hell to put me in.
As a matter of fact, all the people who don't care what anybody thinks about it, take 18 seconds and give God praise because he brought you through this year. Because he lets you see another day. Come on, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, all the grateful people, make some noise, 3,
leave her alone, said Jesus. Why are you bothering her? She's done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want, but you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Touch your neighbor, give him my title. Tell him, I don't know about you, but I'm about to go for broke. Look at your other neighbor because that one thought you were crazy. If you're watching online, just say it to the wall. Say, I'm going for broke.
The Risk and Reward of Extravagant Worship
You know, I don't know what kind of attitude you have toward risk and responsibility. As for me, I try to make sure that the reward is worth the risk. When I do something, I don't mind taking a risk as long as I know the reward is worthy of the risk.
In this passage, I see a woman who was willing to take a risk, to make a move, and to break a barrier in order to do something that she could not have known the significance of at the time. But we're still talking about her to this day. Somebody say, I'm going for broke.
It's a dark time in the life of Jesus because waiting for him in Jerusalem is a religious lynch mob. He's going to be assaulted by their accusations, which are not substantiated but nevertheless acted upon. He knows this because he's Jesus.
But I want you to notice what he's doing because this blessed me in verse 3. It says, he was in Bethany reclining at the table. How cool is that? While they're scheming to kill him, he's leaned back at the table eating dessert, drinking some decaf. He's got to get his sleep. It's Holy Week. He's going to pay the price for our sins.
Yet he stopped by Bethany, where this really good cook named Martha lived. He really liked Martha's cooking, and he liked the company of her sister, Mary. That's who the Bible is talking about in Mark 14. Just so you don't think I made it up, if you actually read John 12, it tells the same story, and it says it was Mary whose brother Jesus had raised from the dead.
Now understand this. One of the reasons everybody else at the table thought what she did was wasteful was because they did not share her personal experience. One of the ways you can tell about someone's personal experience with God is what they define as extravagant.
A lot of people think you're crazy to come to church. You have a couple hours each week where you can actually do what you want to do, and you would choose to listen to a talk and sing some songs. Some of you even would don an orange vest and stand in the rain and help people get to their parking spaces in the freezing rain. I mean, you're risking your life out there, don't you know?
I was talking to one of our parking volunteers a couple of weeks ago, rolled down my window to say, thank you for standing out here in this rain. I can't even get some people to stay through my closing prayer in church. Here you are, an hour early, standing in the rain. He said something that shook me to my core. He said, no pastor, it's my privilege.
And I figured that what God had done in his life must have been something so big that only he knows about. Do you know what I'm saying? It must be something that means something to him. Maybe when he thinks about what he deserves and realizes that the grace of God went all the way and did not only spare him from the punishment he deserved, but gave him blessings that he didn't deserve, he came to the conclusion it's a privilege.
Mary's Extravagant Act of Worship
So I was interested in the fact that Mary came in and interrupted the dinner. And she was risking a lot in this scenario because not only was it not customary, it was not appropriate for a woman to come into a meeting of men like this. The Bible was written in an even more misogynistic time than the one we live in, if you can believe that.
But something caused her to make her way. Well, when she did it, the Bible says, does anybody have a bottle, water, something like that? Yeah, that'll work. You had that for me, in case I got thirsty. She wasn't obviously carrying Pellegrino or Chanel No. 5, but you have to remember that she poured out this perfume on the head of Jesus.
This is different than the woman in Luke 7 who had lived a sinful life in that town. She poured it on the feet of Jesus and she wiped his feet with her hair. This is a different account. Mark says she poured out what she had that was worth 300 denarii, denarii is a day's wage.
So now you see why all the disciples thought this is a little bit ridiculous, because if what she intended to do was to show Jesus that she loved him, that'll do it. You know, that's plenty, right? How much perfume do you really need? Some of you guys need to learn. Two sprays is totally enough. I'm helping a teenager right now. Two sprays from a distance. It's enough. Somebody say, it's enough.
So when is it enough? Is that enough? Is that enough? Is that enough? By now, the fragrance is filling the room, and is that enough? We all get to decide that. We all get to decide that at some point, you know, as God has called us to pour out our lives, we get to decide, is that enough?
I called on our church for this year-end offering. I said, according to what God has done in your life and how he's blessed you and how you want to see him move through this ministry and in your own life. And for those who are online, who are connected to this ministry, you decide out of how much that God has done for you, how much you would like to give to him.
And you get to decide, is that enough? I mean, let's be reasonable about this, right? Because the disciples made the argument, hey, from a practical standpoint, we could feed some kids in Haiti if we keep the rest. And yet she did the irrational thing, the illogical thing, the ridiculous thing, the sacrificial thing, the stupid thing, the strategic thing.
How can it be stupid and strategic? Well, apparently Mary had a sense that she was not going to have this opportunity for very long. It doesn't say in the text whether she had a special intuition that Jesus wouldn't be back at their house again before he hung on the cross. We don't know.
I was reading the text trying to figure out whether she did this because she knew this is the last time, this is the last chance. The next time that I see him, they'll be taking him down to bury him. I was thinking, Mary, did you know? Like the Christmas song. Did she know that this was it? Did she know this was the last chance?
The Bible doesn't record, so we can only speculate, but something in her… Watch what she did. She went through the crowd of people who probably were looking at her sideways for being there. Martha was serving in the kitchen, another text says, but Mary really served no practical purpose, and she poured out everything that she had on his head.
She considered it not to be a waste, but she called it worship. Yet all of those details really don't serve the purpose for the Word that God gave me for our church today and for our extended family across the world today, because I want you to notice one small phrase that the Bible says before we give our offering.
In just a moment, we're going to worship, and we're going to pray, and we're going to believe God for some things to happen in our future, and we're going to commemorate some of the things that God has done in our past. We're going to set up some stones on the other side of the Jordan that he's brought us across, but I want you to notice one little detail in verse 3.
It says, before she poured the perfume, she broke the jar. She broke the long neck of this flask that her perfume would have been in. She came at a great risk to herself, and she said, I'm going for broke.
I wonder when's the last time in your relationship with God that you went for broke. Most of us do not consult our faith when we are gauging what God is telling us to do. We consult our convenience. We consult our resources.
Three Responses to Extravagant Giving
I noticed three things in the passage. I noticed that one group of people takes offense to the woman's gift. That happens sometimes, even today when I talk about giving. Some people get offended by it. They get mad. They get an attitude. They get in their feelings, as I talk about the very thing that Jesus said would determine the course of your life and the condition of your heart.
He said, where your treasure is, your heart will be also. But yet, when you start talking about treasure, people have to deal with their heart, so often it causes us to be offended.
Some people choose offense. Other people, in a moment like this, start to feel a sense of obligation, almost like a guilt trip. Like, okay, okay, I keep stealing the elevation pins, I probably should drop something in. How many did you take, babe? Do the math.
And then some people, other people, married people, some people decide, you know what? This is not offensive. This is not an obligation. This is an opportunity. See, that's how I've come to see it now. I'm not saying I always saw it that way, but now this offering for me and for my house is an opportunity.
I stand before you today making a declaration in your presence. I'm going for broke. You know, it's kind of ironic that this woman went for broke right before Jesus did the same for her. He did not withhold his life. He did not spare his life. He did not call the legions of angels that could have come and prevented him from having to die.
In fact, Thomas even tried to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem. He said, they want to kill you. But Jesus looked at Thomas and said, I'm going for broke. I'm going all in. I'm willing to give myself for the joy that is set before me. I'm willing to endure the cross, despising his shame. I'm going for broke. I'm going for broke.
I'm going for broke today, and I'm not ashamed of it because there are some things in my life that I want to break. Somebody say, break it. When I'm giving this offering today, I'm not just giving an offering. I'm breaking a jar.
There are some things in my life that I am breaking today as I give. Number one is I'm breaking the grip of complacency in my life. I'm breaking the grip of greed in my life. Somebody shout, break it. Break it. Look at somebody and say, I'm breaking it. I'm about to break it.
You better get out of my way if you don't want any glass in your eyes because I'm about to break the grip of greed in my life. I refuse to be controlled by stuff and materialism and the spirit of mammon. I'm about to break the grip of greed in my life.
Second thing I want to break is the cycle of scarcity. When I give today, I am declaring that God will supply all my needs according to his glorious riches. I said, when I give today, I'm declaring with this alabaster bottle that my God is more than enough.
As I give today, I am declaring that he is my source, and he will withhold no good thing from those who trust him. So I'm breaking the cycle of never enough. I'm reversing the worry cycle in my life. We've talked about this. I'm starting with my source, not my situation.
Somebody shout, break it. Shout it louder. Break it. Break it. Break it. Break it. Break it.
Breaking Barriers for the Gospel
Right now, our church is poised at the very beginning of a new model of ministry. It's the most exciting time the church has ever had to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought my eFam would back me up on my left side. I can't hear y'all.
As I preach this message, we are now doing what the disciples could only have dreamed about doing. As this message connects with people from every walk of life, people who might not otherwise go to church, people who might not be able to go to church, people who might not have the faith, people who might not even have the help to get out of bed.
But all over the world right now, this gospel is being preached, and it is a sweet aroma being released. God has called our church to be a breaker, a breaker of barriers, a breaker of prejudice, a breaker of racial barriers and religious barriers and denominational barriers.
We didn't come here to play church. We came here to break stuff. I'm not just giving an offering today, we're breaking chains. I came to break the grip of greed, I came to break the cycle of scarcity, I came to break barriers and I came to break chains.
Somebody is going to be saved because of my gift today, somebody is going to be set free because of my gift today. I'm going for broke. I'm going for broke.