Crossway Pond Sermon Podcast · Crossway Christian Church

Anointing Jesus’ Feet in Love

·35 min

Dave Ripper opens with greetings to the Pond Campus and the online audience. He talks about the construction project, the roofing work, and the new next-gen room taking shape behind the wall. He says he has prayed there and felt a strong sense of God’s favor and expectancy. That leads into thanks for the congregation’s generosity and a memory of a lemonade stand that brought the joy of giving back to mind. The sermon then moves into Jesus’ visit to Bethany. Bethany is identified as the place where Lazarus lived after Jesus raised him from the dead. That detail brings back both Lazarus’ death and resurrection. A dinner is held in Jesus’ honor, and Martha is serving again. Ripper recalls the earlier scene where Martha was distracted and upset while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. He suggests Martha may have received a course correction that changed less about what she did and more about how she did it. The point is to serve from being loved, not as a way of trying to earn love. He then turns personal and remembers his own early years as a preacher. He says he used to put heavy pressure on himself to deliver the perfect message. When a sermon did not go as planned, he would carry the disappointment for the rest of the day. He names the deeper motive behind that reaction. He was often trying to prove himself and earn God’s love through performance. The sermon offers a different script. People can receive God’s love first and then serve from that secure place. Ripper speaks of himself as God’s beloved son and as someone with infinite significance and worth. That identity makes service a response rather than a test. The closing movement returns to Mary of Bethany as an unsung and remarkable disciple and leader. Her posture becomes the image of sitting, falling, and anointing Jesus’ feet in trust, hope, and love. The sermon ends with prayer, gratitude for Christ’s life given for his people, and a blessing over the congregation.

As heard by us

A gentle sermon on serving from love, not for it.

The sermon frames the Bethany dinner scene as a quiet case for serving from love, not for it. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary are used to show how Jesus reorders duty, devotion, and worth, and the opening nod to church construction and generosity gives the message a grounded start…

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Why you'd press play

If you need a gentle reset on serving, this sermon starts with Martha and Mary.

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