Thursday Night Fellowship
July 6, 2006
Study of John
Order:
Food and Fellowship
Games
Lesson
Prayer
Introduction Theme-Lavishness:
Expensive Car
Expensive Dog Bowl
Expensive Toilet
Expensive Shoes
Read our passage together John 12:1-11
Who are the main characters?
Recap – Give me the shortest summary you can.
Jesus is at a dinner. Mary pours some expensive perfume on Jesus feet and wipes it with her hair. Judas reproaches her. Jesus reproaches Judas. Jesus praises Mary.
How much did the perfume cost? 300 denarii. One denarius=one day's way. Approx. a whole years salary. Yikes! Show picture of Clive's Perfume. If I came in here with this $2000 bottle of perfume, broke it and poured it out onto Alison's feet and then wiped it off with my hair, I think you would be a bit confused. What a waste! What could I have done with $2000? Lots of things. I could have fed a whole family for a few months on that and now it's just smelling up the carpet in this 200 year old building.
What can we learn from Judas?
Judas feigned concern for the poor, but really was interested in his own gain. While we can't judge others motives we surely can know the times when we play religious to better ourselves.
Be careful not to judge someone else's lavishness towards God. Let them give to God in their way and let God deal with their with hearts.
What can we learn from Mary?
She was willing to sacrifice so much. What are you willing to sacrifice? Time, money, inconvenience, security, fame, power, relationships, self-image?
What can we learn from Jesus?
Does Jesus care about the poor? Yes.
Should we as Christians fight to end poverty? Should we help people in poverty? Proverbs 14:31
Jesus is pleased by our acts of sacrifice, love, and commitment. He sees the big things and the little things we do and is happy.
What can we learn from Lazarus?
People wanted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony. We too may experience different levels of persecution because of our affiliation with Christ. II Timothy 3:12
Next Week: Read John 12 three times and write down a summary of what's going on as much as you can understand.
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