The Taste Of Worship

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Something I’ve been thinking about lately:

Where is the Love? Do you think that love has any correlation to the worship of God?

We move through each day using the senses that God has given us to experience the world. He gave these senses to us more so to experience Him and to provide opportunities to worship Him. But before we get into additional senses, let’s look at a passage found in John chapter 12, starting in verse 1 that illustrates where the love is.

John 12:1-2 “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Now, let me give you some background context here- This takes place six days before the Passover, which was six days before Christ was crucified, the next day was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the palm fronds, the donkey and the people crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

During this passage, Jesus was in the town of Bethany with his disciples and Lazarus, the guy that he had raised from the dead and Lazarus’ sister Martha. They were all having dinner, enjoying the time of fellowship, but also weary from traveling and they all must have been very burdened because the chief priests and the Pharisees, the leaders of the Jewish church, had openly declared that Jesus was going to die and that they were going to do it- kind of like a holy hit.

So, as they were talking and Martha was serving them, the door burst open and Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ sister comes into the room and makes a bee-line for Jesus. I’m sure that Mary’s entrance itself was startling enough, but the action of rushing across the room to Jesus probably raised an additional level of alarm and then she stopped- looked right into Jesus’ eyes and with tears in her own and with a dramatic motion she unveiled a bottle of perfume- a big bottle. She opened it and poured the contents out onto the feet of Jesus. 

A couple things here- First of all, there is some scholarly contention as to whether or not this Mary was the same as Mary Magdalene who was a prostitute.  Unfortunately, in that day, if you were of marrying age and you were not married, you still had to make a living. So, these women would often sell themselves to make money. She may or may not be the same Mary, but nonetheless, she had been really, really depressed- and here is why.

Her brother Lazarus, despite her possible career choice was a man of note in their neck of the woods. The family owned a vault, which was reserved for burial and which only wealthy families were in possession of. Upon Lazarus’ death, a huge number of people showed up for the funeral, which further reinforced the fact that he was well known and respected.

Imagine his notoriety after dying, being brought back to life- There were probably paparazzi swarming his house. Back to Mary, even though she probably had a ton of image and self-confidence issues, as well as some strained relationships, such as the one with her sister Martha- remember Martha yelling at her because she wasn’t helping with the household hospitality chores? Regardless, she loved her brother, very, very much. So, when he died she was crushed, absolutely demolished- this might of meant that she would have been completely destitute- without hope for anyone being able to take care of her. This wasn’t just the loss of a family member’s life, this was the loss of her life as well.

When Jesus showed up and raised Lazarus from the dead, he not only restored a loved one, but he restored her hope, her ability to breathe returned. She was awash in a sea of joy. She had her beloved brother back and Jesus was the one who did it. She had to repay him.

So, she poured out a bottle that contained a pound of perfume and started wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair. Another thing about that- they all wore sandals and they didn’t have curbing and sidewalks. They had dirt. Powder dirt- from all of those people walking on the same paths for thousands of years. The kind that when you sweat, it sticks to your skin, it fills the tiniest crevices and really cakes itself in there. They also didn’t have showers. So, they would go long periods of time without cleaning up. It has been theorized that when Jesus was crucified six days later, those that gathered at Golgotha could smell the aroma of this perfume that Mary poured out on Jesus. So, she pours out this perfume and takes her hair and mixes it with the liquid and the dirt and grime. That worship of Jesus must have smelled good. She touched her hair to the savior. That was a touch of worship.

What an act of submission! What an act of humility and confidence at the same time! You see, she didn’t care about anyone else in that room. She went straight to the son of God and threw her cares at his feet and thanked him. She worshiped him. She honored and adored him- on her knees with her hair.

In order for her to worship God, she had to sacrifice her pride, her ego, the perceptions of others, the person sitting on her right and on her left. She gave everything she had to worship Jesus. Her sacrifice didn’t stop there. Let’s read on.

John 12:4-8 “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ‘why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Ok, Judas selfishly points out the value of the perfume. A denarius in that day was the average wage for a full day of work. I took a look at the average income for an individual from this last year in Merced County on the US Census Bureau website. It is just shy of $31,000, which works out to about $100 dollars a day, based upon a six-day workweek. If our daily wage equals $100 dollars a day and one denarius was a day’s wage, how much did that bottle cost in today’s dollar amount? My math says $30,000 dollars.

This woman brought a bottle of perfume that cost $30,000 dollars and poured it all out on the dirty feet of Jesus. She sacrificed public perception, her own attitude, her pride and her money/possessions just to have a touch and smell of worship to God. She did not let outside influences, the detractors, the distractions, the filler, get in the way of her worship.

Mary is also demonstrating a very significant shift in the way we are to worship. We looked last week at John, chapter 4 verse 23, where Jesus said, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshiper that the Father seeks.”

When Jesus says, “a time is coming and has now come”, he is referring to a monumental shift in worship from the Old Testament style to the new covenant that is in and through Jesus Christ. You see, we no longer travel to the temple in Jerusalem to sacrifice and confess before God. No, we are now called to be “true worshipers” of the “Father in spirit and truth”. We have been given the ability to go straight to God through Jesus himself- if we choose to. In addition, we have been called to, “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” as it says in Romans 12.

We will get into the transformation in a minute. I want to take another look at Judas for a moment. We talked about fakers last week. Well, Judas is a faker. He gets ticked off because Jesus allowed Mary to pour out $30,000 onto his feet. He fakes a concern for the poor, not because he cares about the poor, but because he wanted to get something out of it for himself. It was kind of a flimsy mask he put on. I wonder if Judas ever really meant what he said when he prayed.

When you come into church and your life is crumbling around you do you try to keep the appearance of having it all together? Be careful that you are not just attempting to get face-time with God or fill a spiritual quota.

Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”

Is your fear/respect of God based upon guilt that is poured out from the pulpit? Because we say you should fear Him? Or is your fear of God real?

II Timothy 4:3 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

People will not endure sound teaching. When did sound teaching become something that had to be endured, like a burden? Is it a burden to hear the truth? It may be a burden to follow up and act upon that truth. What are your passions? Do they take away from your ability to worship God? Are you being lured into myths and abandoning the truth of God found in the scripture?

John Piper in “Desiring God”- ”Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of artificial admirers like the people who write generic anniversary cards for a living.”

We sing these songs to God, but do we really mean them? Do we truly study the words and ask our hearts if this is what we mean? Are we emotionally dead when it comes to worshipping God?

Piper-”On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the disciplines of rigorous thought.”

Maybe we are on the opposite end of the spectrum and we seek out the thrill of the emotional roller coaster. We look for opportunities to cry big tears and somehow get superficial fulfillment diving from one seemingly life-altering issue into another- rarely, if ever looking to actually dive deeper into God and His truth to find true contentment.

Piper-”True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God that are rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of Biblical worship.”

So, Matt, this is all great and wonderful. You have pointed out to me that I’m a faker. Thanks. So, how do we find Biblical truth? How do we dive deeper into an adoring connection with God?

We have already established the need for worship. We looked at an example of unabashed worship in the form of Mary of Bethany. She further reinforced the fact that we can have a taste, a touch, a smell of worship at anytime and anywhere. We have also touched on the fact that our lives are out of balance and we allow distractions, detractors and filler to blind the opportunities we have to worship God.

I was introduced to the writings of a man by the name of Henri Nouwen about three years ago. He wrote a book called, “The Way of the Heart”. It spoke to me. The simplicity of the book, the concepts and the explanations all provided a direction, motivation and guidelines for connecting to and worshipping God.

Nouwen broke this connection down into three areas, which were solitude, silence and prayer.

On solitude: Solitude is not silence. Silence is not solitude. Solitude is the physical act of getting away from it all. Removing oneself from the daily burdens of life. Solitude in this sense is a detoxification. It is, as Nouwen describes it, where “I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me- naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken- nothing.”

Nouwen goes on to say that nothingness is what he must face in order to deny himself and his vainglorious attempt to think that he is worthy of glory, that he is great, that in some way, he is worthy of worship. We all believe this to be true to some degree. I’m not talking about self-confidence or self-esteem. I’m talking about the fact that we put ourselves and our things before God on our priority lists too much of the time. 

You see, in solitude, true solitude, we have to face up to and battle our issues of anger or greed or lust. This is what you must do. Set apart a time and place to daily be in solitude with God. The time and place will differ for every person.

Solitude is, as Nouwen said, ” the place of purification and transformation, the place of great struggle and the great encounter… It is the place where Christ remodels us in his own image and frees us from the victimizing compulsions of the world.”

On silence: There was a Roman man by the name of Arsenius who was a teacher and a devout practician of solitude and silence. He said, “I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.” 

Psalm 39:1 says, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle.”

Words have a tendency to be empty. Too many words can be dangerous. Have you ever tried to be silent and all kinds of things pop into your head? In silence we have the opportunity to hear God. If we cannot hear him it is most likely because of the noise around us getting in the way, including our own thoughts. We have to constantly refocus our attention upon God. We can also ask God to give us the ability to focus on Him in our silence.

When you do speak, let your words lead others and yourself closer to God. Choose your words carefully. Give him the attention, not yourself, not your things, not your ambitions.

On prayer: Nouwen also said, do “not think of solitude as being alone, but as being alone with God. Do not think of silence as not speaking, but as listening to God. Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.”

Nouwen goes on to lay out three guidelines for prayer.

• “The prayer of the heart is nurtured by short, simple prayers.”
• “The prayer of the heart is unceasing”
• “The prayer of the heart is all-inclusive”

These three guidelines can be summed up in this- Prayer is resting in the Lord in short, simple bursts throughout the day with everything that is on our mind.

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