~Who are you a fragrance for?~

John 12:1-9

John 12: 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Mary pours this perfume on Jesus' feet. She didn't care that it was year's wages of money or that people were watching her and remarking on what she was doing. She only wanted to give all that she had and all that she could to show her true love for Jesus.

Because this fragrance was expensive Mary's devotion and offering was expensive. This women literally poured herself out to Jesus. In those days in was custom to pour oil on the head and Mary is seen pouring more than oil but a beautiful fragrance of perfume on Jesus' feet. As she is pouring she wipes his feet with her hair. This shows a huge act of humility on Mary's part because it was not custom for a woman to let her hair loose and to attend the feet of someone that was suppose to be left to the servant.

A fragrant offering..

It was an act on humility..

Now put ourselves in Mary's spot. Your a young women. All you have to give was is perfume. You use it as an offering to Jesus. You bend down to rub the perfume all over Jesus. There are men all around you. Men... the disciples. They make remarks on what you are doing and they think your crazy. Nothing stops you though. This is your act of worship to Jesus Christ. This is your offering. You completely humbled yourself down and gave everything you had.

This perfume was a fragrant offering and the smell of it filled the whole house. Jesus constantly wants us. He wants us to give ourselves as an offering to Him.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are called to be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to Jesus. We are to carry the aroma of Jesus on us where ever we go. We have a choice ....we can smell beautiful in the nostrils of Jesus Christ... Or we can smell beautiful in the nostrils of the enemy. Which do you chose?


2 Corinthians 2:14-16
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Before I became fully committed to Jesus I was a sweet smell to the nostrils of the emery. I would lie to my mom about where I was going, I would get in fights with my brother, I would stay out all night at parties, I would drink and party almost every weekend for about a year. My marks in school went down because I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to please myself. I never thought about God. My attitude was horrible. I only ever thought about myself.

Now I want to do everything I can to be sweet smell to Jesus Christ. I want to be a fragrant offering just as He was for me.

How often are we a “Mary'?
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How often do we pour out everything we have and give if a as fragrant offering to Jesus?
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When will we get off out high latter's and humbles ourselves like Mary did?

God wants our everything. He wants us to offer of ourselves up as a sweet fragrance to Him. In doing that we ought to be obedient. But it's more than that. We ought to desire and love to be obedient to Him. No it's not always easy. I mean is it always easy to take instruction from a parent no, but we listen because we love them and want to obey. It goes the same for Jesus we love him deeply and because of the love we have for him we want to obey Him. Our King, our Father, Our Maker, Our Creator, Our everything.

Do you want to be the sweet smelling perfume in the jar that is poured out onto Jesus?
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Do want be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to Jesus just as he was for us?

Now remember the this fragrant offering of perfume was not cheap. It was very expensive. It was year's wages of money put in that perfume. It was a sacrifice for Mary to pour in on to Jesus' feet. She was sacrificing all the work and money she put into the perfume and used every last drop of it on His feet. The perfume was also a symbol of her complete devotion to Jesus. Her first love.

How are we a fragrant offering to Jesus?
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What are we willing to sacrifice in our lives to get closer to Jesus?
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We all have different stories of how we came to know Jesus. In that process we had make sacrifices many different to get closer to God and show that we really love him and want more of Him. Some of you may have had to sacrifice friends, or depending on where you were before you were saved maybe it was drinking or drugs, or maybe spending less time with your family and more time with God, maybe food, maybe the computer, or T.V.... or one thing we all say we don't have enough of is time.

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Are we willing to sacrifice our time to we will Jesus?
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These are just a few examples. You will see that as you take these steps of sacrifice for Jesus, He will show you other things He wants to clean you out and get rid of things that keep you from getting closer to Him, so you can have fresh relationship with him everyday. This does not stop the week that we are saved. It's a life time. It's a life time a sacrifices for Jesus.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We no longer live. We let God take complete control over our lives. We live by faith and not by sight because we trust God. He loved us and gave his life for us, so we ought to do the same. We are too love Jesus as He loves us and put our lives into His hands. I challenge you now to let go of any thing that could be holding you back from being closer to God and letting Him have complete control over your life. Lets step down from where are be like Mary and pour everything we have on to Jesus as a sacrifice of our love for Him.