Heart of Worship

‘Two men owed money to a certain moneylender.  One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both.  Now which of them will love him more?’   Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.’  ‘You have judged correctly’, Jesus said.  Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘ Do you see this woman?  I came into your house.  You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.’ “   Luke 7:41-46
I want to give a little history and context…

  First and foremost, this woman was a sinner.  Everyone in the town knew that she was a sinner, because the Pharisee who invited Jesus to eat at his place, was unhappy that Jesus was allowing her to “touch him” because she was a sinner.  Another thing to know is that women during this time, would save their whole lives to buy perfume.  Perfume wasn’t cheap.  It would be years of wages for them.  They would save it for something special, such as a wedding (As Alyson pointed out last night).  Lastly, another thing to think about is that Jesus’ feet were dirty at this time, because he wore sandals, and there were no “streets” or concrete sidewalks.  Those feet were probably filthy, because he didn’t even have any water to clean them.Yesterday,  I came across this verse.  And seriously, from the moment I read it, it seriously pierced my heart.  True worship–this is it.  Simply Jesus.  This woman was a sinner, and she had such a radical, uncontrollable love for Jesus, that FROM THE MOMENT she stepped into the room, she DID NOTHING but WORSHIP Him.  She KNEW that He was royalty–that’s what He meant to her.  He was King, to her.  He was Savior, to her.  He was everything to her.  She humiliated herself to worship the King.  She gave up her most expensive bottle of perfume, to worship the King.  She cleaned his dirty feet with her hair.  All she cared to do was worship.  There was nothing else on her mind.  She didn’t care what the Pharisees would think.  She loved Jesus, and she couldn’t help but worship Him.

I want to ask you guys something.  When you come to Worship Jesus, is He the one that consumes you?  Are you so consumed by Jesus, and a desire to worship Him that you don’t care what the meeting is like.  You don’t care if people aren’t getting it.  You don’t care if the worship is a little funky on that day.  You don’t care if the logistics go wrong.  You don’t care what the people sitting next to you are doing.  Heck, you don’t even care what they are saying.  All you know is that you’re here to worship the King.  To lay down at His feet and worship.

Our meetings guys…it can never be about a meeting.  It can never be about revival.  It can never be about all this other excess stuff.  It needs to be about Jesus.  It needs to be about Jesus.  It needs to be about Jesus. 

Furthermore, worship is sacrifice–but worship is not sacrifice done out of obligation.  You see, just because we give God “food” and “invite him into our house” like this Pharisee did, does not mean our sacrifice is pleasing to God.  A lot of times, when we sacrifice to God, we do it with thoughts, questions, a heavy heart.  “Oh man.  I just gave 100 dollars.  What I could have done with that money…”  Or “No!  Not my food Jesus!  Anything but my food!”.  “No Jesus, not my girlfriend or boyfriend.  Don’t make me end that relationship!”  Sacrifice is worship.  But what is your motivation for sacrifice?  You see cause this “woman” didn’t even think twice about giving her EXPENSIVE bottle of perfume to Jesus.  WHAT’S MORE is that she annointed his FEET with it.  Not even His body.  She just simply knelt there, and poured the perfume on His feet.  Even Jesus feet meant more to her than life, more to her than money.  It wasn’t even sacrifice.  It was a joy for her to give him her everything.  She loved Him and simply wanted to do it.

You guys.  We need to see ourselves as the person who owes Jesus 500 Denarii.  You see.  Too many of us don’t TRULY appreciate what Jesus saved us from.  A couple weeks ago, Jaeson said that amongst Christians today, there isn’t a “fear of God”.  Too many of us don’t fear God.  We think all day about His love and grace and mercy.  What about His wrath?  God’s wrath is real–and what’s more, it’s not something to be taken lightly.  He killed Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) because they didn’t sacrifice with the right heart.  This was in the NEW TESTAMENT.  Furthermore, He killed Uzzah because Uzzah touched the Ark when he wasn’t supposed to, even though Uzzah was simply trying to balance the Ark (1 Chronicles 13).  And what of Isaiah?  In Isaiah 6, Isaiah stood before God.  And Isaiah was relatively a really righteous man.  But when Isaiah stood before God, and the angels cried out “Holy Holy Holy, is the Lord Almighty.  The whole earth is filled of his glory”, all he could say is “Woe is me.  For I am RUINED!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty”.  You see.  This is how HOLY God is.  He CANNOT STAND SIN.  But because of His great love for us, He often let sin go unpunished (Romans 3:25). 

I’m not trying to freak you out.  Honestly, in Christ, we shouldn’t be afraid of judgment.  1 John 4:16-19 says “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.  There is no fear in live.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us”.  We have no reason to fear the day of judgment, if you are in Christ Jesus.  But at the same time, in Isaiah 33:6, it says “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure”.  The FEAR of the Lord is the key to salvation and wisdom and knowledge. 

The reason this is important is because when you fear God, you become the 500 denarii person.  You see…when you TRULY REALIZE what a sinner you were, and how much it took for Him to save you from this–worship isn’t about obligation anymore.  Sacrifice isn’t about obligation anymore.  It’s simply Jesus.  It’s simply love.  You see, because Jesus took ALL THE WRATH we were supposed to take (Romans 3:26).  He did this because He loved us so much.

I write this e-mail to exhort and challenge everyone to come back to the Heart of Worship.  Do we mean what we say?  Do we say what we mean?  Do we worship God just to worship Him?  Or are we worshipping Him because we want a vision?  Are we worshipping Him because we want to see revival?  Are we worshipping Him because we’re done it our whole lives?  Are we worshipping HIm because it’s what we’re supposed to do as Christians?  Are we worshipping Him because we want to feel some emotional high?  What if ALL those things were taken away?  Would you stop worshipping Him? 

Worship isn’t about the experience.  It’s not about whether or not you get a vision, or a dream, or a prophetic Word, or even revival.  It’s not even about the salvation of your friends.  It’s simply Jesus.  Worship is about giving yourself completely to a King.  Nothing else matters but Him.  And you’d sooner weep and cry at His feet, and annoint his feet with the most expensive bottle of perfume you have, then anything else.  Nothing else matters–you live to worship Him.

When we come together this Sunday, before anything else, let’s come to worship Jesus.  Let’s come to worship our King.  Please.  From the moment we walk in.  Let’s worship Jesus.  Let’s give HIM our everything.  Even if we don’t feel like it–let’s give Him our best.  Our best worship.  In your personal times with God this week, don’t give Him your crap.  Give Him your best.  Let’s get before Him and worship Him.