There are many risk takers in the Bible, but one of my favorites is found in John 12.
Jesus is at a dinner party in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper. While Jesus was eating His meal, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, came with an alabaster flask of ointment made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.
She was criticized by Jesus’ own followers for “wasting” something that could have been used to help the poor.
Jesus comes to her defense. He says, “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
Jesus is saying that Mary had the right focus: Jesus. Helping the poor was important, but Jesus is more important.
Mary was a risk taker.
What does it take to be a risk taker?
It takes courage.
In the Jewish culture women were not considered very important. In the John 12 passage the other woman mentioned was Mary’s sister Martha. She was serving. Serving was the proper position for the women of that time.
Mary chose to do something that was not accepted by her culture.
In the first chapter of Joshua, God tells Joshua four times to be courageous.
God knew that leading the people of Israel into a land where they would have to fight was a big risk. He knew that, for Joshua to take the risk, he would need to be courageous. So, God commands him to be courageous and in commanding him to be courageous, God empowers him with courage.
God never commands us to do something or be something that He is not the source for us to fulfill the command.
In Joshua 10 Joshua and the Israelites defeat a coalition of five kings. In verse 25 Joshua says, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”
Joshua had been empowered by God to have courage and now he was helping his people to experience that same godly courage.
Many define courage as not being afraid, but courage is trusting God more than you fear something.
It is living based on the truth on 1 John 4:4: Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a courageous risk taker.
It takes confidence in God.
Being a risk taker is not about confidence in yourself. It is not thinking that you can do anything.
Being a risk taker is about believing that you can do anything that God tells you to do.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
It does not say I can do:
What I have the training and education to do
What I am good at
What I enjoy
It does not say I can do:
Many things
Most things
All put a few things
All but one thing
It says I can do ALL, not in my ability, but through HIM who gives me strength.
Paul says a similar thing in Philippians 2:13. He says, “God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out His good purposes.”
We don’t have to come up with what God wants us to do; He will.
We don’t have to come up with how God wants us to do it; He will.
We don’t have to come up with the power or ability to do it; He will.
We have to listen, trust , and obey. All based not on confidence in ourselves but in Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a confident risk taker.
It takes humility.
When Mary came, in she didn’t make a big production out of what she was doing. She didn’t anoint Jesus’ head, she anointed His feet. For Mary to anoint Jesus’ feet she would have to bow down. Bowing down is an indication of humility.
Being humble is not condemning yourself.
Being humble is not seeing yourself as worthless.
Those ideas come from Satan, not Jesus.
Jesus sees us as so valuable and worthwhile that He died on the cross for us.
Being humble means I see myself in the proper position in relationship to Jesus.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Look at the process here in this passage.
I humble my self under God’s authority.
God, at the time He chooses, exalts me. (He can exalt me because I am humble. If I am not humbled, God cannot exalt me because I have already exalted myself)
I cast all my cares on Him.
He cares for me.
The all-power, all-know, all-loving, ever-present God of all creation says, “If you will surrender your life over to me I will exalt you and take all your worries on me because I love you.”
This is a no brainier! And the answer is YES!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a humble risk taker.
It takes making Jesus everything.
When we risk for Jesus, others will criticize us.
Sometimes that criticism will be, as in Mary’s case, verbal.
Sometimes risking for Jesus will bring physical persecution and even death.
Just recently I faced a situation that, by doing what God had directed me to do, I could have been detained in jail. The possibility was small, but still a possibility. I asked myself, “Is it worth it?” It made me very much appreciate our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and determine to increase my praying for them.
Criticism, mocking, persecution or death are not things we seek or rush into.
The criticism of the disciples was that the perfume could have been turned into money to help the poor. Helping the poor is important. Jesus commands us to help the poor.
Jesus is teaching His disciples something that is huge. It is huge for followers of Jesus who minister in any form. The ministry is never to be more important than the One whose name we do the ministry in - Jesus.
Life and ministry are about Jesus.
We don’t minister based on the needs of people; we minister based on what Jesus wants us to do. It is not about human need; it is about God’s will.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a Jesus focused risk taker.
I want to share the lyrics of one of my favorite songs. It is Alabaster by Rend Collective Experiment.
I am broken at your feet
Like an alabaster jar
Every piece of who I am
Laid before Your majesty
I will bow my life
At Your feet
At Your feet
My lips
So lost for words
Will kiss Your feet
Kiss Your feet
Oh the gravity of You
Draws my soul unto it knees
I will never be the same
I am lost and found in You
I will bow my life
At Your feet
At Your feet
My lips
So lost for words
Will kiss Your feet
Kiss Your feet
Being a Risk Taker for Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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