Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
Today we continue our series on Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross, titled Christ speaks from the cross.
Today we are talking about Never Forget Life’s Duties.
Text
John 19:26-27 (AMP)
26 So Jesus, seeing His mother, and the [a]disciple whom He loved (esteemed) standing near, said to His mother, “[Dear] woman, look, [here is] your son!”
27 Then He said to the disciple (John), “Look! [here is] your mother [protect and provide for her]!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Scripture Reading
John 19:25-27 (AMP)
Prayer
Father, we are grateful for another day, another gift of time.
Help us not to put off until tomorrow the things we should be doing today.
Help us to do every task, face every duty, and shoulder every responsibility without delay, never allowing anything to be half finished nor any task undone.
Help us to realise that high on our priority list should be the stewardship of our material possessions.
As we bring them this morning, may we find joy in giving to Your work.
Bless all those who will be touched for both God and for good because of our gifts today.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
One of the great mysteries of Christianity is the relationship of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to her first and greatest Son.
She knew more than anyone else that He was virgin born.
All others, even her husband, had to take it on faith.
On the night of the Saviours birth and in the days that followed, many strange and wonderful things happened.
Luke 2:19 (AMP)
19 But Mary treasured all these things, giving careful thought to them and pondering them in her heart.
How often Mary must have wanted to tell all that she knew but opted to exercise discretion.
To bear a burden and not be able to tell of it is difficult.
But what about knowing great things concerning your son and not being able to tell others?
Wouldn’t that be an almost impossible task?
Yet in approximately three years, Mary saw the mission of Jesus take a turn that, in all likelihood, she had never expected, the opposite of all for which she had hoped.
At one time she seems to have joined His brothers the conclusion that her firstborn was taking the wrong road on the way to His divinely decreed mission.
And now, at His crucifixion, she must have seen the further deterioration of the messiahship and what seemed to be the utter collapse of the mission.
What was Mary going to get out of it?
Only some kind words from her Son as He said to John “Behold thy mother!”
Is this all, or is there more?
We know there was a resurrection.
How much Mary understood at that moment we cannot be certain.
But we do know that her fears, frustrations, and disappointments received a glorious reversal when her Son arose as the ever living Lord.
Jesus elevated womanhood.
In the Jewish world of the Old Testament, a woman was just a piece of merchandise.
Although in certain places the Mosaic law protected women, they had far less rights than men.
But when Jesus came, He immediately identified Himself with the downcast and the outcast, including women who had been made second class or even third class citizens.
Jesus went so far as to say that prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before the legalistic Pharisees.
This was not because He condoned immorality or over looked sexual impurity, far from it, it was because He released that it was the overbearing attitude of the religious hypocrites of the day that had put women down and made them only an item in the economy.
Do you remember the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4?
John tells us that the disciples marvelled to find their Master talking with a woman in verse 27, but none of them asked why He did it.
That brief comment from John, who we should remember was one of the disciples at the scene, shows how Jesus has changed the world.
Women today can stop and ask themselves, in fact men can do the same about women.
Who made it fit and decent for a man of God to stop and talk with you?
Who has thrown a zone of mercy and protection around your children?
Who has lifted you and transformed you from being a man’s plaything to becoming man’s beloved companion?
Who has elevated you from being man’s property to becoming his friend, his sequel, his inspirer?
Who obliterated the mark of slavery from your face?
Who put on your head the halo of tenderness?
Who has changed your position in society so much that instead of it being a marvel today that a man of God talked with a woman, the real marvel is that there ever was a day when men did marvel that a man of God talked with a woman.
Modern women should do as another New Testament woman did, bring an alabaster box filled with precious, expensive ointment, break it, and pour it with love and gratitude on the head of Jesus, and wash His feet with tears of love.
Such an attitude would be appropriate because only in lands where the message of Jesus Christ has come, has womanhood been elevated to a true and deserved position in life.
2. Yet even Christian counties have been slow to learn.
In spite of the gospel’s progress in human relationships, it took a long time for our country, founded on Christian principals, to recognise that women are loved equally by God and are also children of God when born again by His spirit.
Did you know that it wasn’t until 1902 that women in Australia were allowed to vote and stand for parliament.?
Did you know that it wasn’t until 1942 that women could enter the workforce, and that was because so many men had gone to fight the war?
Yet Jesus cared for women.
He saw the grief of His mother and made provision for her.
With tenderness He told John to care for her.
In the hour of utter agony, Jesus saw not only the weak men but the weeping women, especially the one who had cared so much for Him.
He knew the fading of hope in her had brought desolation in her heart.
He realised that her faith was imperfect and her understanding was inadequate, but He also remembered her tender care for Him.
He refused to adopt the traditional attitude of society.
He ws the “pioneer of faith” in many ways, especially in attitudes toward women.
How slow we have been to catch ip with Jesus and let His mind be in us!
3. Do the duty nearest.
Too many of us want to immunise ourselves from the dreary obligations of everyday responsibility by dreaming of what we would do if we had greater fields of service in which to labour.
There was once a teenage girl who had adopted a “holier that thou” attitude toward her peer group because she had “surrendered to missions” and felt she was going to be a missionary someday.
Shen met a wise full time religious worker who was visiting her church for a week, he said to her, “Young lady, the most important thing in your life is not that you are going to be a missionary someday, but that if you can’t lead your peer group, it is doubtful that you will be a good missionary, or even a missionary at all, when you are older.”
Jesus saw the duty newest to Him and did it!
He made provision for His mother.
He laid upon John the responsibility of caring for her.
He was dying to atone for the sins of the world, but He would not hide behind that great mission to escape the drudgery of the smallest details.
Conclusion.
Although this third word from the cross seems, in some way, to have less inspiration for our spiritual lives than any others, in reality perhaps it has the most!
If each of us were only willing to do our job quietly yet efficiently, not worrying about who received the credit, great things cold be accomplished for the Master.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2021 IS A YEAR OF REFORMATION
© www.refinerylife.org 2021 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968, no part of this Article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission.
Visit us at
www.refinerylife.org
Twitter
@PastorGaryHoban
@RefineryLifeGC
Facebook
@PastorGaryHoban
@RefineryLifeChurch
Instagram
@gary_hoban
@refinerylifechurch
YouTube
Gary Hoban
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxvrTCsjg98vGjMTObxJhtQ
Refinery Life Church Australia
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvD9z50SuKWxhSw0TPQkgQ
