There are a number of things that I value here on earth. And when I say that I value them, I mean that these things have a place of importance in my life. Such as my wife, son (and of course Melissa, they are one), family and friends, even things like my home, church, car and other things like these. I have placed them in my heart in the order of importance and this defines their value. Now this may sound crass to some of you and you may be thinking, “How could you place a value on Robin?” Oh, please. Think of what you’re saying; how could I not place a value on her? We all have many things we value here on earth, and these things direct us in how we live and what we do. Take for example the series of events that have transpired over the last five months. I am not trying to convince anyone here, but let me tell you this; if Robin and all of you were not in my life when I had my stroke last April, I probably wouldn’t have gone through all that hospital stuff. Now, if you’re thinking, “Oh, sure, everyone goes to the hospital.” I would have to say to you, “Not everyone thinks like you do.”
I am sure that we can all agree that the material things that we value can in no way compare to the value that we place on people. But then again, I am speaking to Christians, to people who have faith. Because if I were to make that statement to some folk, they may argue that saving the whales and the spotted owls were more necessary than saving the unborn. Some folk treat their dogs better than their neighbors. Believe this or not (but I experienced this first hand), I know a person who was upset because some girls, after they were involved in a car accident, bled on the floor of his house. There are some people who have screamed at kids who walked on their lawn! Now, where were their values? Have you ever heard of the mugger who took a life for a pair of tennis shoes, or a name brand jacket? All of these things seem so ludicrous to you and I because we have something that is priceless –faith! And our faith is in God. This faith allows us to know what and where we value things. God is our standard, our compass, that which we base all direction in life. Faith in God is priceless because we have no business placing value on something that is not a part of this creation. Faith is what God uses to make us; it is the same with hope and love. These things are priceless because they are not of this creation and we will never know their full value until we see God. Then He will show just what faith, hope and love meant to us while we were here on earth.

“Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.”

I wonder, what would you have thought of this woman if you had witnessed her coming into this Pharisee’s home? What if you and I were sitting there dining with Jesus when all of a sudden this woman burst in carrying this expensive perfume and then fell at the feet of Jesus weeping? What kind of thoughts would we have had running through our heads? Remember, the Pharisee questioned that Jesus was even a prophet because he knew what kind of woman she was. I wonder where she got the perfume? Did she steal it or did she buy it with money that she made from her seedy profession? I wonder if she was clean; you know what I mean. I wonder who she had been with and I wonder if she had been with anyone lately? A thousand questions; a thousand unanswerable questions. I wonder… is it possible that this woman was crying not from sadness but from joy? We have heard many sermons concerning this encounter with Jesus and we have learned much from Jesus’ words to both the woman and the Pharisee. But have we even considered that perhaps this woman had met with Jesus prior to coming to Him at the house and maybe it is possible that He had given her the Good News at that time? I’m not preaching dogma here but I would like to show you something.
You see, a person can cry for more than just one reason. Mostly, people cry for sadness but sometimes people cry because they’re angry, frustrated or even relieved. Have you ever cried at Jesus’ feet? What motivated your tears? I am sorry if I sound a little cynical here but I don’t think too many people these days cry at Jesus’ feet like this woman did, or for that matter, for the same reason she did. If she was crying because she was aware of her sinful state, we not only should applaud her but also follow her example. One of the problems with conversions in these last days is that people do not really recognize their sinful state –that in itself is worthy of many tears. Have you ever wept at Jesus’ feet? Have we really considered what our sin cost Jesus? Oh, but wait just one minute! This woman didn’t know that Jesus was going to be crucified for her sins. So, what on earth was she crying for? Now, that is sermon material.

I remember the time before I was a Christian when I needed an excuse for not going to work, or keeping an appointment with a friend, or some other responsibility I was trying to shirk. I remember how I would try and come up with the most believable and the easiest one to remember. I didn’t get real complex or elaborate, because the more involved I was with the excuse the more likely I was to mess it up. For instance, often times I would say that I was sick but I would never elaborate on symptoms. I figured that if they weren’t going to believe the lie of me throwing up all night, they wouldn’t believe anything. And besides that, if I spent a lot of time on an excuse then I wouldn’t have enjoyed the time that I was making the excuse for in the first place! Duhhh! Needless to say I became a pretty good liar even to the point of believing some of the lies myself. Go figure! I became pretty good at shirking my duties but pretty bad at fulfilling my responsibilities. Thus, I was strong in self-justification but weak in character, and that, was plenty of ammunition for my conscience. Do you know what it is like to be telling somebody something that you know in your heart isn’t true?
Well anyway, when I became a Christian I never had to worry about that sort of thing again. Even to the smallest of things –like answering (or not answering) my telephone. I was talking to someone the other day about making excuses. They couldn’t go to church because of this… they didn’t pray about that because… they forgot to read their Bible because… “You know.” I said to them. “Forget about becoming a strong Christian. If you keep making excuses like that, the only thing you’ll be strong about is –making excuses.” We want God to strengthen us but we keep making excuses for ourselves when we fail to fulfill our responsibilities. God isn’t concerned with our excuses but He’ll bless our obedience. Do you remember Jesus telling the parable of those invited to the banquet and everyone seemed to have an excuse? “I just bought some land… I just bought a team of oxen… I just got married…” But in the end the door was shut and the folks who had excuses were shut out possessing only their excuses and their tears. No matter how you look at it, God strengthens those who obey His Word and He will withhold no good thing those whose walk is upright. Fulfilling our responsibilities to God, to Jesus Christ and to His Church and yes, to the world, will strengthen us in the long run. There are no short cuts. There are no magical “abra-ca-dabras”. There is only obedience motivated by trust and faith expressing itself through love.
“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation –but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”
Romans 8:12-14

Nehemiah instructed the people of Israel not to mourn or weep; for the day that they had assembled was a sacred day to the Lord. He went on to say, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Now, often times we receive this Scripture from the subjective point of view, desiring to know the experience of that strengthening. In other words, I believe we all want to know just how that joy empowers us for everyday living. They (our Bible teachers) tell us that we should feel stronger because we have joy being Christians. Or at least, we should feel joy and if we don’t then something is wrong with us and we shouldn’t expect God to strengthen us with His joy. Sounds like a bunch of malarkey to me! I find myself getting into a lot of trouble when I begin to start thinking about life with my wants and needs as the center or top priority. This is the essence of Secular Humanism, which is itself a false religion. Beloved, anytime anyone shifts the priority of the Gospel away from Jesus and on to us should remember the solemn words of St. Paul, “But if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” And so, may we always press on to receive the Scriptures as God intended them to be received. And that is simply done by allowing the Scriptures to interpret Scripture. Now, back to the joy of the Lord.
It is a fact that there is a great joy one experiences when one realizes that he has been accepted by God and reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. But, this joy can be veiled by the hardships and tribulations of life. A man racked in pain all of his life because of some illness obviously would have trouble understanding how the joy of the Lord strengthens his life if all he looked at was how he experienced that joy. What is it to him? Does it relieve his pain? Does it minimize his suffering? But if that same man would search to know just what the Lord’s joy was; what was it that caused the Lord to joy, then he would certainly be removed faster from the mourning and grief of his situation. For I tell you a truth, there is something very liberating to joy in someone else’s pleasure while dealing with a hardship of your own. So, what is the joy of the Lord? The writer of Hebrews says this, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross…” That joy that was set before Jesus was you and I. For in the Gospel of Luke (ch.15: 5) Jesus tells the parable of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep and one comes up missing. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he does he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. When I realize that I am God’s joy I can do all things because He strengthens me through Christ! See how the Scriptures speak for themselves! O, how I love God’s Word. My prayer is that He reveals this truth to your heart this week. God bless.