True Worship
Faith to Empty Your Alabaster Box
Luke 7:36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
Luke 7:37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
Luke 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Luke 7:40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
Luke 7:41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
Luke 7:42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Luke 7:43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
Luke 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Luke 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
Luke 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Luke 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Luke 7:49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
There seems to be some confusion about what is worship. How do I worship the Lord. Am I supposed to feel something when I worship the Lord. Is the Lord happy with my Praise.
Well I want to start of by first ending the rumor that the only place you can worship the Lord is in the church. When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the tabernacle was ripped from top to bottom, signifying that we can worship the Lord wherever we are. Well, minister Portis does that mean we don’t have to come to church.
No I did not say that and let me clear that up. Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The Lord wants us to come to church and worship Him among other believers in addition to the worship that you give Him outside the church. The Lord has a special blessings for you assembled that you won’t get worshiping alone. Furthermore if you are worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth, nothing, I said nothing will keep you from coming to the House of The Lord anyway.
So what is Worship? My Bible dictionary defines worship as the human response to the perceived presence of the Divine, a presence that transcends normal activity and is holy. So the definition worship is an activity that exceeds or rises above what we would normally do.
True worship is the realization that the Lord is in this place. And the presence of the Lord you can’t help but to be better that you normally would be. The presence of the Lord will take you to a higher level that you could ever go on your own. But you have to be willing to go and you have to be ready to go. Now what does it mean to be ready and willing, well let me tell you that you cannot go on this journey with baggage.
What baggage? I’m talking about the baggage that we
tend to bring to the house of prayer with us. What happened at work, he makes me sick, she makes me sick, what am I going to cook today, the game is getting ready to come on.
Baggage is anything that is stealing your attention from Jesus and hindering your worship. If you have a desire and you are willing to worship the Lord and let Him take you higher, you must first check your bags at the door. Check them; don’t let them weigh you down.
Because you don’t know what is going to happen when the Lord shows up and shows out in this place.
You may want to jump for the Lord; well full of baggage you leap won’t be too great.
You may want to run for the Lord; well swift you will not be burdened with bags.
You may want to sing for the Lord. Well I can’t speak for you but my song is a little clearer when my mind is on Jesus.
My song is a little stronger when I let go of the bags so I can’t lift my hands to the hill from which cometh my help.
My song is a little louder when I’m free of concern about anything else but receiving a blessing from God because what God has for me it is for me and I not going to let Him have to look for me up under some junk that I have brought into His House to give me my blessing. Here I am Lord right here with my mind on Jesus. I tell you, you check those bags at the door and come in this house and give the Lord the praise and worship he deserves, when you go to pick up those bags, hallelujah they just might be gone.
Today we are going to see the in Gospel of Luke a woman that defines true worship, she shows unadulterated worship, some “I don’t care who’s watching worship.” Lets look at our scripture today: Pharisees were the religious leaders.
By definition, Pharisee means the separated ones. They really looked down on those who were not as they were. They were those who were very strict in their religiosity.
And they really pointed their finger of judgment and accusation on everybody else. They enjoyed getting praise from men. The Pharisees opposed Jesus because He refused to accept the teachings of the oral law. So it should strike you as odd that someone who opposes Jesus would invite Him to their house for dinner. It seemed to me that this was a setup and it was.
But we know that Jesus doesn’t get set up he does the setting up. He went to the Pharisee’s house because He knew that it would be another opportunity to teach everyone including the self righteous Pharisees who thought the knew everything.
Now understand this that in these times that if
someone was invited, especially if they were popular or famous and if the word got out in the village that this famous person was coming to your house, people would come to your house and just stand around the walls just to see.
There’s something about our humanity that makes us want to see famous people. We are not content with just a description. We’re not even satisfied with seeing them on television. We want to actually look upon them.
So I can just imagine that people were just gathered by the hundreds outside the house of Simon the Pharisee just to get a look at Jesus. And at dinner they would not sit down as we do today, but they would recline they would use one arm to hold themselves up and their body would be in a prone position.
So here we are with Jesus reclining at dinner, He is at dinner at the home of a self-righteous Pharisee. And word got out that Jesus was in the house. So here we are with crowds of people lined up around the house and then somebody showed up.
Verse 37 “and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner.”
Most commentaries state that this woman is a prostitute. Now can you imagine, you in your house, got everything together nice and right and a prostitute shows up.
Next verse 37 “when she knew” Now there are hundreds of people outside the house but this woman knew that Jesus was there and she has made it up in her mind that I have to get to him. This is my chance and nothing is going to stop me. The crowds of people aren’t going to stop me, what they think of me is not going to stop me. Who’s ever house this is that I am going into is not going to stop me.
Church just think of something you had a burning desire to do. Any obstacle in your way you went around it, any hurdle in your way you jumped it because of your desire to complete your mission, your will was you’re your way to accomplishing your goal. Which further prove the saying that you can do whatever you want to do.
Now lets see what we have here, a sinful woman just came to the house and took over. She wasn’t bothering anybody, all she did was got to the feet of Jesus and she just started crying. Now lets look at this for a moment.
A child does not truly realize the wrong they have done until they are in the presence of their parents and they see the hurt their actions have caused them. A child can just be doing whatever but until Judgment shows up, and they come to them selves and realize, oh oh I’m in trouble now. Lets look at it like this a sinner does not truly understand the magnitude of his sins until he gets close to God. The recognition of the presence of God in your life will cause a change. You will begin a self examination that will cause you to shout “Lord forgive me” You will be remorseful and repent for your sins that your have perpetrated against God.
All the woman did was got close to Jesus and just broke out crying. And this was not just what you would call a sob, or a normal cry. This was such a cry that tears poured out of the eyes of this woman and she began to wash his feet with her tears.
This was her first step of transformation. The presence of God will also cause you to do things that you would not normally do. Case in point lets look at what she did next. She did something else that was not socially acceptable, she let her hair down. She was not worried about a society that has already rejected her; she was not worried about what anyone thought, she was worshipping Jesus. And she started wiping his feet with her hair as she cried.
Here is our picture, Jesus is at dinner at the house of a self righteous Pharisee and there is this woman that everybody in town knows to be is a sinner, she is a prostitute and before they can say anything, she broke open her alabaster box of ointment while crying and wiping his feet. And she is kissing his feet and she anoints them with the ointment. She is a sinner at the feet of Jesus.
Verse 39. “Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, this man if he a prophet would have know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner.” He spoke within himself, he did not say it aloud, he did not mumble it, he just thought to himself.
Now Simon, what does that have to do with you? She came to worship Jesus. She did not come to worship you. And the Pharisees of 2000 do the same thing, “there she is over there worshiping and praising the Lord. Why is she over there doing that, I heard about this and I heard about that.” Then why don’t you keep your what you heard to yourself. There not here to worship you or what you think, they are here worshiping the Lord.
And notice here that Jesus does not stop the woman. He knew that the woman was a prostitute but he didn’t stop her, he knew she was a sinner but he didn’t stop her. And she was at His feet and not at Simon’s feet. Nobody came to worship you Simon in the first place, and if you had any spiritual sense, you would be over here worshiping yourself. Child I just saw her at the club last night now she out here worshipping. Well what’s that to you, you don’t know what has happened since last night.
That’s the problem; a lot of people come to church to spectate rather than to participate. I like to call them professional scouts. The come to church and get a seat so they can see everybody. From the time somebody gets a program and goes to their seats they have scanned them thoroughly top to bottom right to left, to see if they’re matching, clothes out dated, looking at their eyes to see if it looks like they have been out all night. And by the time they sit down the person sits down they have given their scouting report to the person on either side of them.
Scouting is not a form of worship. Worshiping is being in-tuned to God. Now what does in-tuned mean. You ever tried to listen to two radio stations at the same time or listen to two people talk at the same time.
You cannot give the same amount of attention to both; you are going to miss something that one of them is saying. If you are too busy scouting, you are going to miss the blessing that the Lord has for you. Because I serve a Jealous God and He demands your full attention. For the Gospel of Matthew 6:24 says that no man can serve two masters. Choose you this day whom you will serve.
So saints we cannot scout and worship at the same time. Do you think that this woman was worried about if the dishes were matching in the house of Simon, Do you think she noticed that the floor needed sweeping. No she was there to worship, and nothing else mattered, and she was not going to let anything around her interfere with her worship. So if our desire is to worship like this woman we have to rid ourselves of worship excuses.
I don’t have anything to wear, don’t matter,
They know what I do and they are going to look at me funny, don’t matter.
I have not been to church in so long, well what a better day to come back than today.
Or the all time famous I’m going to come to church and worship when I get my self together. What is together?
Don’t you know that you can’t fix anything without the help of God? So the only definition of together in the context of your life becoming better has to include Jesus. If it doesn’t include Jesus it is never better only ranges of bad to worse. Listen if I have dirt on my suit, I cannot use dirt to remove dirt. I need a cleaner something with the power to cleanse and blot out my stain. Just as we are sinners, anything that we have or can use to remove sin is corrupt; therefore it is impossible for us to remove sin without a
powerful cleanser,
without the one who is sinless,
without the blood of Jesus that makes me whole,
He removes the stain of worry from my life,
He removes the stain of stress from my life,
when I stumble He picks me up turns me around and places my feet on solid ground.
Yes my definition of together includes Jesus because I have realized that away from the father I am hopeless and helpless and I can do nothing but fail.
Now back to our woman. Now Jesus did not stop the woman and she was at His feet. And the Pharisee is judging her to himself.
You see that’s that self righteous attitude, you think you are the only one that can praise Him, you think you are the only one that can worship Him; no the Lord will receive praise, and He said if you don’t do it then the rocks will do it, and if the grown folks won’t do it then the children will do it. So you can sit back and be sophisticated if you want to, but the Lord says I demand worship and praise and He deserves worship and praise.
And when someone is worshipping and praising the Lord that is none of your business because they are not talking to you. When they say halleluiah that is not praise Portis, or praise Mitchell, that’s praise the
LORD.
Verse 40 – 43 Jesus begins to teach, he speaks in a parable of a man that was owed money by two people. One owed him 50 pence and the other 500 pence. And he forgave their debt, therefore which one of them would love him the most.
Now what is a pence, a pence is defined as a days pay, which equals to 17 cents. So you are looking at some who owes about a couple of months work, verses someone who owes 1 ½ years worth of work.
So Simon in his arrogance says I suppose the one who he forgave the most. And Jesus says you have rightly Judged. Now what is Jesus saying to us with this parable. Jesus said that there are some of us in here who think you only owe God 5$ worth of sin, and because you think you only did 5$ worth of sin, now that the Lord has forgiven you, you go on with your every know and then amen and your once in a while Halleluiah. Ohhh but you get that brother who use to
be on drugs,
who use to be in the alley,
who use to be out in the streets,
who had been outcast,
thrown away from his family,
lost their job, lost their home,
lost everything and the Lord saves them. You would shout too, you would run too, you would dance too, you would jump up and down too.
Because you don’t care what they say about you because you know that if it had not been for the Lord who was on your side that saved you would have been gone. “Well he should be praising more because he has sinned more than me”. No church the bible teaches us that there is no little sin or big sin, sin is sin. Romans 3:23 say that for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Roman 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.
It doesn’t say the wages of big sin is death, no it says the wages of sin period is death. So it does not matter to what degree you think you have sinned, in the eyes of God sin is sin.
But once you realize that sin is sin and you begin to look at and see sin as God sees sin then you too can be released from the yoke of self-righteousness, and you too will begin to participate in true worship because you will realize that it was the Lord who gave you life and who spared your life by giving His life so you could have everlasting life.
So if you believe that the Lord has saved your life and you owe your life in service to Him then you are not going to sit back and wait on someone to ask you to join the choir or participate in a ministry around the church, because service to the Lord is worship just like praise is worship.
Service to the Lord is a labor of love for me because I know how far the Lord has brought me, I have recognized that my sin has kept me out of fellowship with the Lord, so no more do I wake up on Sunday morning and lie in the bed trying to figure out if I feel like going to church, or if I feel like singing or praying. Its automatic, if the Lord blesses me with another day to live, a good portion of that day is going to be spent worshipping through prayer, service or praise.
Lets look at verse 44, No it was time for Jesus to say a little something to His host. Now up to this point Jesus had been relatively calm even though He was being disrespected in the house of Simeon. Now you might say how was he being disrespected. Let me talk about the customs of that time period. Now most houseguests would have their feet washed when they arrive, because they walked barefoot or in thin sandals on the roads. And they walked along the same roads as the cattle and other animals so one could realize that the feet of a guest that had been traveling over 21 miles as Jesus did would need some washing.
And Jesus said to Simon that first of all you didn’t was my feet. But this woman washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. It was customary among the Jews, Greeks and Romans to show reverence to one another with a kiss. Jesus says you did not greet me with a customary kiss, But this woman has not stopped kissing my feet since I got here. Simon she is trying to make up for where you have fallen short. Making up for your inhospitality. And finally it was as customary to anoint the head of your guest of honor at your house with perfumed oil.
Now Jesus was asked to come to the house, he did not just show up. And Jesus said Simon you did not put so much as a drop of oil on my head but this woman has anointed my feet with an entire box of ointment. Now perfumed oil was not cheap. And entire alabaster box of ointment cost about $51. You might say well that’s not a lot of money, but when you put into the perspective that a days pay was only 17 cents.
You are talking about almost a years pay. Now you might say Minister Portis the bible does not say that she used the whole box of ointment on his feet. And I would say you are correct, it does not say that.
But I would first say that to anoint someone is to show respect and to show love. Then I would say that looking at this scripture, it says that the woman was crying. And she is not crying just enough that tears dripped onto the feet of Jesus. It says that she washed his feet with her tears.
Just imagine how hard you would have to be crying to wash someone’s feet with your tears. Now I had to imagine myself in the position of this woman. If I am crying had enough to drench the feet of Jesus with my tears, then I am not going to turn around and just dap little oil on them from the box, I’m not going to be using the oil sparingly, no If anointing is showing respect and love, then I’m not going to be worried about how much this stuff costs, after I was done pouring out the entire box on the feet of Jesus, I would begin scraping the box making sure none was left. Jesus I’m giving you all I have. There would be nothing left in the box.
Verse 47 wherefore I say unto thee Her sins which are many are forgiven for she has loved much but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her Thy sins are forgiven.
Now you see church her faith has saved her, she didn’t have any good works to her name, but she believed in the Lord, she trusted Christ and she asked for forgiveness. There are some among us today who have not put their trust and faith in Jesus. You are sitting there with a full alabaster box called your heart. And that box is filled with love and worship and praise. But instead of emptying the box on Jesus, we chose to ration it, dab it because we do not have the faith to just empty it. Are we afraid that the box will not be replenished?
The Lord said prove me now that the windows of heaven will pour out a blessing that you will not have room to receive it. So the question of the Day is this; are you tired of leaving church with a full alabaster box? Listen the only reason that something has value is because someone is willing to pay for it. The Lord said I love you and I’m going to prove it, I will send my only begotten son to die for their sins.
The Lord said I will give to man what is most precious, most valuable to me, my only son because I love man so, because I want to save man.
And I know they will reject Him, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know they will lead Him through the streets and beat him, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know they are going to kick Him and spit on Him, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know that they are going to put a crown of thorns on his head, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know that they are going to drive spikes through His hands and feet and hang him on a cross on Calvary to die, but I’m still gonna send Him.
I know that they are going to pierce Him in the side, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know that My Son will cry out to Me, Lord if it be thy will let this cup pass from me, but I’m still gonna send Him,
I know that for three days my son will lie in a borrowed tomb, but on that third day, man will finally know why I sent Him because on that third day, My Son will get up with all power, crushing the head of the serpent with His heel, beating the death angel and saving mankind.
Jesus has paid the wages of sin with His own death. The Lord emptied His alabaster box for man with His own Son. So church I’m not going to go away from a worship service with a full box of worship.
Lord,
I’m going to sing till my throat hurts,
if the choir isn’t here I’m going to be the choir,
I’m going to shout Halleluiah and not care what people think,
I’m going to preach and teach your word as long as you allow me father God.
I’m going to pay my tithes Father God.
I’m going to praise your name with all that is within me,
I’m not going to leave out of worship service the same as I came in.
I’m going to give you my all Father God. The rocks will not take my place because I’m going to sing Halleluiah to you name Father.
And Lord it wont stop there, every day that you wake me up, I will rise praising your name Father, I will carry you with me on my job, tell to others about how good you are, Lay down at night still praising your name Father. Just like David I will bless the Lord at all time and his praises shall continually be in my mouth.
I know from experience that the Lord is good, but it’s your turn to taste and see (3) that the Lord is good. No more excuses will be my motto,
no more will a headache keep me from you,
no more will aches in my body,
no more will a television program keep me from you,
no more will, not having anything to wear keep me from you,
not having a car won’t keep me from you,
not being able to sing won’t silence me,
if a mountain is in my way then I will climb it,
if a valley is in my way then I’m going to jump it
because Lord I need thee oh I need thee every hour I need thee, bless me know my savior, I come I come I come to thee.
Cedric A. Portis
314-520-5962
cedque8@cs.com
