TD Jakes - Ripped for a Reason
You must understand, that this ripping is always a tear, and a tear is always painful. It costs something to get into the next dimension. It costs you something to pass from death unto life. It hurts to step into the next dimension. You don't dance through the veil. The veil is ripped. Not unzipped. Not cut. The veil is ripped and God wants you to know who's doing the ripping because anytime you have ripping, you have pain. And anytime you have pain, you think it's the devil, but God said the veil in the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom. God said, "The devil didn't rip you. I ripped you".
See my Bible scholars are shouting, because they know that had the veil been ripped from the bottom to the top, then the world could've said that when Jesus was crucified, "Somebody ran into the temple and rip the veil". But because it was ripped from the top to the bottom, where no man can reach, the ripping always come from God. 40 feet high, I believe, 30 feet long, 6 inches thick. That's a rip. That's a rip. That's a rip. A rip is violence. A rip is forceful. A rip is painful. Ripped for a reason. Hurt for a reason. Torn for a reason. Bleeding for a reason.
Oh I'm headed somewhere, I'm not even there yet, I'm just on the road. I'm gettin' there. I'm gettin' there. I'm gettin' there. Just touch three people, say, "Rip for a reason". Rip-rip-rip for a reason. Rip-rip-rip for a reason. Rip-rip-rip for a reason. And brought me, I got to studyin' the jacket and I thought to myself, I started thinkin' about ripped for a reason, I got down to this. This meeting Jesus has a Simon the leper's house and all the disciples are there, and they gathered about doing their business, and the doing whatever they normally do.
And Jesus has come into Simon the leper's house, and they're so engrossed in their business that they do not recognize the sensitivity of the moment, and into this scene, this atmosphere of men, comes a woman. The woman is carrying an alabaster box. The box is carrying a box to a box. The Bible says, "It was an alabaster box". And the Bible says that the alabaster box was filled with spikenard. Now the spikenard was what mattered. The spikenard what was in the box is what matters.
I gotta stop there. What was in the box is what matters. You spend all your time working on the box, but it's what's... You look gorgeous this morning on the outside but nobody has to live with your outside, they have to live with your inside. Have you ever met people that you wish were is pretty on the inside as they were on the outside? We spend billions of dollars in this country fixing up the box.
See, Christ walked amongst us as a box. But he couldn't redeem us as a box. The alabaster isn't what in, what is important about this woman's offering. In fact, the only thing that was important about the alabaster is that it was made of a material that was designed to hold the essence and the aroma of the content was locked inside the alabaster. So if that ointment was precious, you put it in alabaster so that no longer how long you kept it, it would be just as potent when it was released as it was before.
Maybe Paul was thinking about this when he talks about us, and says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency may be of God and none of us". The dichotomous situation, stay with me church, 'cause I'm thinkin' this morning. I'm thinking this morning. I'm thinking this morning. The dichotomy of the box and the ointment it's a powerful thing. It gives you a glimpse of us. The discussion between ointment and alabaster, is a picture of us.
We have the treasure, but we have it in earthen vessels. Christ is our redemption, but he held it in an earthen vessels. The Holy of Holies is where I'm going, but I had to get through the veil to get it. Here comes this woman in with an alabaster box; some theologians say it was a year's wages that she had saved up to give to Jesus. And she came in. She wasn't even a good woman. Look at the dichotomy. She wasn't even a pure woman. She, she was a kind of woman that when she came in the room to church folk would talk' about her.
Church people talkin' about, "Oh no she didn't. I know she's not coming to church". Why would God give something so important to somebody so contaminated? Let me talk to you a minute, 'cause I don't think they heard me. I'm gonna try you over here. Have you ever looked at yourself and said, "You want me? You're gonna put that kind of revelation in me? You're gonna put that kinda gift in me? You're gonna get that kind of opportunity to me"?
God always works with the opposites. He didn't say, "My strength is made perfect in strength". He said, "My strength is made perfect". So when, now, now, I'm gonna date myself. I'm kinda old now. But when I went to school, they used to give you a picture, and they say, they have a living room, they have a couch, and a chair, and a coffee table, and a refrigerator, and at the bottom it said, "What's wrong with this picture"? And they were tryin' to see if you had you know, good deductive reasoning skills to have associative skills to be able to determine what should not be here. What should not be here. What should not be in this room is this trashy woman. And Judas sitting murmuring and talkin' about, "He don't know she a sinner".
What's wrong with this box? Bringing a box into the presence of Jesus. And she gets down at his feet, one thing about her, maybe she was a sinner, I don't know. But she didn't try to stand toe-to-toe, she didn't try to look Jesus in the face, and have a discussion. She didn't shake his hand. She didn't want a selfie. She got down at his feet.
Until you humble yourself, you will never discover the purpose of God for your life. As long as you think you, know you don't know. When you fall at his feet, and say, "I can't do it without you. I can't make it without you. I can't figure it out without you". Down, down at his feet.
Touch somebody and say, "I gotta get down, down at his feet. I've been tryin' to go toe-to-toe with the master. I've been tryin' to put my will up against his will, and my thoughts up against his thoughts, and my ways up against his ways, but I'm comin' down where I belong. I made enough mistakes that I'm comin' down where I belong. I've blown it enough that I'm comin' down where I belong. I'm bold enough to be here, but I'm humble enough to get down at ya. I got boldness enough to walk in a room where everybody's talking about me. But as soon as I get here, I'm goin'..."
This woman. This womb-man. This womb-man. This womb-man comes in with an alabaster box, and the Bible doesn't say that she opened it. The Bible doesn't say, that she opened it. The Bible says, "She broke it". She broke it. See, the reason our worship services are not any more powerful than they are, is that we come in here, with our little cute dresses on, and our little nice outfits, and we open up ourselves a little bit. We open ourselves a little bit and we give him a little worship. And we, "Oh bless his name. Bless his name. Bless his name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah".
See, when people start taking God for granted, they tryin' to decide whether they're gonna worship him or not, but when you know you're a wreck, when you know you don't have no right to be in this room at all, when you know they talkin' about you and half of what they said is true, you don't just open a little bit. You break the box. I wish I had some folk who have done some mess. You know you're here by the mercy of God. Break that box. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I do not understand why you would get out of bed on the few, on one of the few days that you had to sleep in. Take a shower, get dressed, get the kids together, get in the car, and come to church, and then sit here and look stupid. If you gonna come in here, you oughta just...
So she made up her mind when she came that morning. "If I get in that room, if I'm lucky enough to get in that room, if they blink and let me get close to Jesus, if I get anywhere near Jesus, if I come to church that morning, I'm going to break the box". Shake your neighbor's hand and say, I came here to break the box. I'm not gonna leave, I'm not gonna leave, I'm not gonna leave till I break it. She broke the box. Brought a box to a box and she broke the box, down at his feet, Down at his feet, she broke the box.
That's how you're going to change the things in your house. Down at his feet. You're gonna break the box. That's how you're gonna change things on your job. Down at his feet. You're going to break the box. You don't have time to worry about what people think. You gotta get down at his feet. If I don't break it. Young people, if I don't break it, I will live a life of ineffectiveness. Having potential that is never realized, is not that it's not in me, but until I get what's in me out of me, having it in me doesn't change the atmosphere. Nobody could smell it till she broke it. You got it, but because you insist on acting like you got it all together, we can't smell it, but if you get down at his feet and break the box...
Now let me show you. Oh my God. When the alabaster shattered, the oil spilled out and of all the things that had happened to Jesus in all of his life, it was this one thing that he said, "Wherever the gospel is preached, remember this woman". This woman and they were talkin' about. This woman that they were murmuring against. This woman that didn't even have no business to be where she was. Remember the teachings of this woman above wherever you preach. What is it about this woman? He said, "Remember her", watch this, "Because she has prepared my body".
I was preaching many years before I understood that when she broke the box and the ointment spilled out, and it filled the atmosphere with aroma, she reminded Jesus the reason for the ripping. That, if it doesn't break, it's not effective. When she broke it at his feet, and the ointment came out, he said, "I'm ready now".
What the box was figuratively, Jesus was literally. He had the ointment that would affect the world, but he had to be broken. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes we're healed. He said, "I'm good now. I'm good now. I understand. I understand. You reminded me". Oh woman, wherever the Gospel is preached, remember that this woman is a memorial. She's a testimony. She's a sign. She broke it. It flowed. She broke it. It flowed. She broke it. It flowed. She broke it. It flowed. He broke it. It flowed. He broke it. It flowed. He broke it. It flowed. He broke it.
Now watch this. Watch this. And I got one more thing I want you to see, and I'll be done. You cannot say that you are a Christian. Stop sayin' it. Stop it right now. You are not. You are not a Christian with your together self, with your unfazed, unmoved, compartmentalized, hiding who you really are, never opening yourself up, you are not a Christian. Because if you were a Christian, it would mean you were Christ-like, and you would get ugly publicly; you would open up your wounds and scars.
How long will it take you to understand that if God ripped you, it was for a reason. If he allowed your heart to break, if he allowed you to be emotionally shattered, if he allowed you to go through a hellish childhood, if he allowed your daddy to forsake you, if he allowed your mama to leave you, if he allowed your wife to walk out the door with another woman, if he allowed your husband to leave you... You gotta stop being bitter and understand that if God ripped you...
See, we are not like Jesus. We are like our pictures of Jesus. We want to be effective and pretty. But in order to be effective, you got to be ripped. So if God put a great anointing in you, if God gave you a great ministry, if God gave you a great gift in your life. You will go through a ripping and you have to know that you were ripped from the top to the bottom, and not from the bottom to the top; because whenever God allows you to be ripped, it is for a reason.