Introduction
I love books. I just love the smell of them, the feel of them, to read them, and to have them surround me. I was reading a book by George Barna. He made the comment that one of the key principles of the first-century church was worship. "Every believer was expected to worship God every day, both in private and in the company of other believers. This did not require a 'worship service'." (George Barna, Revolution, Tyndale Publishing, Carol Stream Illinois, 2005, p. 22)
That comment got me thinking about worship in the church, which led to worship outside of the church, and ended with my worship. Worship is a strange thing. To be such a crucial part of the church, and it is, we seem to understand so little about it. In John chapter 12 we have a story of a worship encounter that happened outside the church, but it mirrors so much of what the current condition of worship is in many other churches.
I. Sacrificial worship
A key principle of worship is that it costs you something. It is impossible to worship Jesus and leave the same way you came. You may say, "Well, I come here all the time and I don't always leave changed." You can come to a worship service and leave the same way you came, but you cannot come and worship Jesus and leave unchanged. There was an old song: I don't know what you came to do, but I came to praise the Lord.
It will cost you to worship Jesus, and that cost is change. Sometimes, Jesus calls us to change how or where we spend our money. Sometimes it is a monetary change in our lives. The disciples here are worried about the monetary value of the perfume Mary pours on the feet of Jesus. They see it as wasteful, while she and Jesus view it as the cost of worship.
Sometimes it will cost you your pride as Jesus calls you to humble yourself and follow Him more closely. This was Mary's house. She was not to take the role of a servant and wash her guest's feet. However, she was willing to sacrifice her pride to worship Jesus.
Sometimes it will cost you time as Jesus calls you to serve Him. Maybe it will cost you something of yourself as it did with Mary. She used her tears as water. It cost Mary her glory, as she took her hair, what the Bible says was a woman's glory, and used it as a towel to dry the feel of Jesus.
The disciples are upset about the cost of the perfume but do not miss that Mary is paying a high price for following Jesus, and that price is more than just money.
You and I come to worship God this morning. What will it cost you to worship Him. In other parts of the world this morning, gathering to worship Jesus may cost them their lives, but those dear saints are willing to pay the price. It could cost some of them their business and financial support as they would be boycotted and abandoned in their villages and towns.
So often we reduce the price we pay to worship Jesus as the amount we put in the offering plate when it comes by. Certainly the offering you give is an act of worship and sacrifice, but there is so much more to it than that. It costs us personally, in pride, humility, service, and so many other ways.
If you believe the only sacrifice you have to make is financial, you are making concessions to God. You are paying a price for what you believe will keep Him off your back. That doesn't build a relationship, that doesn't build dependence, that doesn't recognize His generosity, and that's not worship.
II. Significant worship
The purpose of worship is to exalt Christ. For you and I to be reminded of His commandments, His love, His might, His power, and of His return. Worship that exalts Christ happens through music, sermons, prayers, drama, poetry, readings, visual images, and other ways. The importance is not the form of worship, but the object of worship. The method of worship will never surpass the purpose of worship, and if it does, then you are no longer worshiping Christ. You are worshiping a style of worship, the act of worship, or the individual leading worship.
Notice that the people around Mary do not approve of her style of worship. They think she is behaving irrationally. When has love ever been rational? They are focused upon the style of her worship, the instruments of her worship, and not the one she is worshiping.
Jesus pulls them back to the purpose of worship. He says, "you will not always have Me with you." Worship recognizes the presence of Jesus. It celebrates not only what He has done and who He is, but His presence with us.
Mary understood the purpose of worship. After all here they were in Bethany, the place where Lazarus, her brother had died, and Jesus had brought him back from the dead. If anybody had a reason to worship Jesus, it was Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
But this raises and interesting questions, where is Lazarus, or Martha for that matter? Well Lazarus is at the table and Martha is serving the meal. I think that might be a picture of the church. Some people are worshiping, some are criticizing, some are there to be served and others are wrapped up in activity.
What about those people who think worship out to be about them? They arrive at the table of worship every Sunday and expect to be fed. I am worried that there are those people who show up at church and have an attitude of "touch me if you can." They come to the table to be fed, but offer little in return. They will spend more at the movies this week than they will give. They will get up for an 8:00 am tee time, but cannot make it to 9:30 am Sunday School. For them worship is about convenience, and they reject the sacrificial nature of worship.
There is another group, so busy behind the scenes that they don't or won't slow down to worship. Their detailed and frantic actions hide their lack of worship. They serve in many many ways but are not growing or do not care to grow. These are people like Martha who are on committees, or are Sunday School teachers, or deacons, or sing in the choir, or help in youth ministry or children's ministry, or deliver meals to shut ins. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing, but they have come to believe that their actions are synonymous with worship. This is a dangerous place for preachers, staff members, and key leaders. A preacher can believe that all the time he spends studying and preparing a sermon can replace his quiet time.
Remember worship is about exalting Christ, and if you come to the table and expect it to all be about what you want and how you want it, you are the focus of your worship. If you are so busy with activity that you cannot worship, you and your activity are the focus of your worship.
III. Sustaining worship
One of the amazing things about this encounter between Mary and Jesus is the lingering reminder. As she wiped the perfume from His feet, she infused the perfume into her hair. As she left, the smell of that perfume went with her. I think that is such a beautiful picture of worship and its lingering effects.
Some of the most powerful moments of spiritual growth in my life are connected to a worship experience. Some of those moments happened in a church setting where a song or message was exactly what I needed at that moment. Some of those moments were when I was praying and realized in a profound way, and I was in the presence of Christ and He spoke to me. Other times I was studying Scripture either with a group or on my own, and the Holy Spirit lifted the words off the page and drove them into my heart. Those were powerful times of spiritual growth because I was in the presence of Jesus.
But what makes those times even more essential in my spiritual growth is that their effects linger. For example, when I try to be somebody I am not, I am carried back to a youth retreat where God made it clear to me, that he was calling me to serve Him, and not my version of somebody else. When life gets frantic and I wonder how I will get everything done, I remember how a Bible study taught me that it is His church and He will build it. I remember the incredible worship experienced tied to my call to ministry. I remember when He broke my heart because I did not love the people in my church like I should.
I could go on and on and on. The fragrance of each of those worship experiences lingers with me. Like memorizing Scripture, they are there when I arrive at a similar situation. They remind me of what I have learned or mistakes not to make again. The worship did not end when I walked away.
So our worship must be sacrificial, it must be significant, and it has a sustaining effect.
Conclusion
Henry Blackaby and Ron Owens did a study on worship several years ago. In the final chapter of that book, they ask the question "What would happen if we returned to worship?" They point out several key points, our willingness to go and serve as missionaries, evangelists, and witnesses would increase. Our giving financially would soar. The unity and commitment to the cause of Christ would grow and be strengthened. (Henry Blackaby and Ron Owens, Worship: Believers Experiencing God, Lifeway Press, Nashville TN, 2001.)
Worship is not the time between 10:30 and 12:00 on Sundays. It is a way of life. The church is not a building, it is the people. We are people called to worship Christ every day of the week, to sacrifice in our worship, to make worship a significant portion of our lives, and to understand that worship sustains us. So this morning, are you a critic, an overactive individual, a self-focused consumer, or a grateful worshiper at the feet of Jesus? You may have come one of those ways this morning, and that is okay. The real question is how will you leave here?