Authentic Worship
Mark 14:2-9
• DO YOU REMEMBER THIS: Flip Wilson was a popular comedian several years ago, and one of his characters was a Preacher at the “What’s Happening Now Church.” Flip did a Skit where he told about this preacher. He’d shout out: "IF THIS CHURCH IS GOING TO SERVE GOD IT’S GOT TO GET DOWN ON ITS KNEES AND CRAWL!!!" And the audience yelled back "Make it crawl preacher, make it crawl! "AND ONCE THIS CHURCH HAS LEARNED TO CRAWL, IT’S GOT TO GET UP ON ITS FEET AND WALK!!!" "Make it walk preacher, make it walk" the audience moaned. AND ONCE THIS CHURCH HAS LEARNED TO WALK ITS GOT BEGIN TO LEARN TO RUN!!!" "Make it run, preacher, make it run!" "AND IN ORDER TO RUN, ITS GOT REACH DEEP DOWN INTO POCKETS AND LEARN TO GIVE!!!" (pause) "Make it crawl preacher, make it crawl." Few things impact us like WORSHIP.
• As I was reminded this week, frequently in the Bible, the caricature of a woman is used as a type and shadow of the church. Luke 15 speaks of a woman who had 10 coins which she lost and so she begins lighting the light, cleaning the house, and searching for that which was lost.
• In Rahab, we see a picture of God’s children being protected and covered. In Hosea, it is Gomer the wife of infidelity (a nice word for the Bible word, ‘whoredom’) as a picture of the unfaithful church who has gone after other suitors (other gods). In Proverbs 31 we read about a virtuous woman which pictures a church working for the cause of her bridegroom.
• Today, we read a story of another woman – picturing another type of church, a church who adores her Lord, her bridegroom, and worships Him authentically.
• There is so much talk ABOUT worship today and what is amazing is this: Some of the people who believe themselves to KNOW WHAT WORSHIP should be are people who have never invested themselves enough to understand it. Not long ago I heard a preacher say, “If the average church member knew what worship really was, they would not bother with attending the service.” Why would a preacher say that you ask? Because of what worship is & what it demands.
• Listen to some of the calls in the Bible for us to worship. (ON SCREEN) Psalm 29:2, Psalm 95:6, Psalm 96, and John 4 are but a few. Yet, the greatest demonstration of worship are in scripture where the word is never used, but seen. The first picture that comes to my mind is of Isaiah in the 6th chapter. When he encountered Holy God, he fell on his face recognizing his own unworthiness as well as the sinfulness of his people. Immediately I think of Revelation 1 where John the Beloved got a vision of the Lord Jesus and fell on his face as a ‘dead man.’ The examples are endless, but now I come to this woman we have read about. We can identify the actions, attitudes, and affection of this woman as worship. She came to simply honor Jesus with her gift. She brought the best she had and gave it to Him. Interestingly, she didn’t sing any hymns, she didn’t sing praise songs, she didn’t recite some liturgy, and guess what, she didn’t care! Her focus was on Jesus.
• In his book “The Air I Breathe,” Louie Giglio gives this definition or description for worship. He said, “Worship is our response both personal and corporate To God – For who He is! And what He has done! Expressed in and by things we say and the way we live.”
• Today, take a look at this woman, what she did, what she gave, how she was received, and recognize that, without holding back, she gave Jesus all she had & gave the greatest picture of worship we can imagine.
• Worship is a powerful thing. Whatever we worship, we will invite people to! (ILLUS)
• Let take spiritual, Biblical, and Godly worship & examine it through the lens of our text.
1) Worship Is the Atmosphere of Heaven – When I use the word atmosphere I’m not speaking of air, sky, or the like; I’m referring to the ambiance, the impression, the feeling, the mood, the tone, or even the environment. In our text, they were simply eating – one preacher suggested that by now the disciples (& others) had grown used to Jesus and had lost some of their initial admiration. Perhaps, but one thing is true, the atmosphere changed when this woman entered the room and, with deep reverence and worship, offered her best to Him. I can sense the mood changing. All of a sudden they were not focused horizontally, they were forced to focus vertically (who He was).
• Every glimpse we are given into the throne room of heaven paints a picture of the worship environment of heaven. When John is taken to heaven in Revelation 4, verse 8 tells us that ‘they never cease to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come.”’ You did get that, ‘they never ceased to say.’ You keep reading and you find that their worship raised a level in verses 9-11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God.” Chapter 5 carries the picture a step further. (READ) You get the idea? When you step into heaven, everyone is worshipping. It is the most natural thing to do. The atmosphere or environment is a powerful thing.
• People have been known to get caught up in the moment and do some unimaginable things because of the power of the environment. A mob can cause a good person to become a part of horrific things. However, when a church service takes on the atmosphere of heaven, something powerful happens. In that moment, it’s not about what we’re doing or what we’re singing or what someone is wearing, all of a sudden hearts are touch & lives are impacted as heaven comes down.
2) Worship Is the Anointing of the Heart – I love the picture of this lady (a type of church) anointing & lavishing Jesus with her best. Anointing was a practice among the Jews which did several things. It set apart things for a sacred or holy use. Kings were anointed, Prophets, vessels, and more.
• It was also a sign of hospitality to receive someone. It was used as a means of refreshing one’s self. This custom is still practiced today in Arabia. Anointing was used in medical ways to promote healing and it was even used in the military to ‘anoint the shield’ to make the leather hide more pliable and less liable to crack.
• Marry all these concepts to Biblical understanding that ‘anointing oil’ was figuratively used to illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer and things become clear.
• When she anointed Jesus by giving Him her best, true, and full devotion, Jesus sent the healing salve of the Holy Spirit and His saving grace to her heart when He said, “She has done a beautiful thing.” If Jesus were to appear in this room today, would He say to any of us, “You have done a beautiful thing because you’ve given me your best, your devotion, your heart?” There are those who tell us that Jesus ‘takes’ our heart, but except for one Biblical case in scripture (Saul of Tarsus), it would seem that Jesus asks for our hearts, He invites us to give our heart, and what’s more, if we are to be His own – He requires our hearts.
• To worship our Lord with our heart releases the anointing which sets us aside for sacred work, it prepares us to be more pliable in the face of battle, to be more pliable the hands of the Father, and it brings healing to our hurting hearts. When we worship, like this lady did, our lives are changed, like this lady’s was, and guess what – it changes the ballgame.
• This lady’s name is never told, but what she did has been echoed throughout time. Jesus said, “Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” The power found in authentic worship is a connection between man & His creator, God. But there is one last thought:
3) Worship Is the “All or Nothing” of the Soul! – Over the years we have stated this principle in many ways; “99.9% faithfulness to your spouse”, “99% obedience to your parents”, etc.
• When this woman came to Jesus with her ‘alabaster flask of expensive ointment’, she didn’t just take off the lid, use a little bit and keep the rest for another time. Keep in mind that the price for this ointment would probably have been a year’s wages, it was not inexpensive. As a single woman, this was her dowry for marriage. However, she broke it, poured it out extravagantly over the head of Jesus, and then according to Luke – she used her hands, her hair, and her tears to express to Him her love and devotion through her worship. She held nothing back. What a picture of authentic worship. Honestly, we have such a skewed view of worship that, many times, I wonder if we are capable of returning to it. If we do, we need to get a handle on 3 truths:
a. Authentic Worship has only ONE OBJECT – Sad to say, worship is not really about singing your favorite song or about any song, it not even about singing and music; authentic worship is about encountering a living Lord. It is setting a goal to meet with Him and bring honor to Him by our attitude. Think about the lady with the flask, she came into this room where she had “LEARNED” (Luke) that Jesus was with one thing on her mind, HIM! She knew He was the answer for her soul, she knew He was the answer for her sin, and she knew He was the answer for her life. Her laser like focus on Him caused her to not be distracted. Her attitude led to her action of total and complete submission. Mark tells us that she poured the ointment on His head, but Luke tells us then she stood behind Him, weeping because of her sin, using her tears to wash His feet and her hair to dry them. Her attitude of submission led to submissive actions like being behind Him and paying attention to His feet like a servant would do. What a picture of authentic worship.
b. Authentic Worship has only ONE OPPOSER – Verse 4 & 5 are sad but contemporary verses. “There were some” – there are always ‘some.’ Some always opposed the life found in the spirit, spiritual life found in found, and live spiritual worship which points people to our Lord. There are always some – but those some are controlled by only ‘ONE.” He goes by many names – Satan!
• When you choose to worship passionately and spiritually, giving God all that is in you, submitting all that you are–& you do it publically – Someone will ask, “Why do you do that?” which translate, “Why waste your energy like that?” Don’t you know that there are other organizations and groups which could use your passion, energy, time, and talent? I love to hear Kevin Hamm says, “We don’t do that around here.” Candidly, the enemy is not the one standing and speaking, there are just the parrot for the evil one (and they don’t know it). By the way, the opposer has always had his bunch fired up to keep God’s bunch from getting fired up! If we don’t backup-
c. Authentic Worship has only ONE OUTCOME – Here is the power in authentic worship – people remember. Nothing is as weak as half-hearted worship and nothing is as powerful as passionate, sold out, all in, & authentic worship! The reason this woman’s act is (VS 9) proclaimed wherever the gospel is told is because she didn’t care what those watching had to say, she only cared about honoring, giving to, and worship Jesus Her Lord. The impact was that the gossip vine heated up – telling what she had done. I suggest this to you: as a result of her worship, her heart was changed forever – seems to me we call that salvation. She came to Jesus trusting Him to do what He said He could. Her sins were forgiven, her past was taken care of, and her future was secured – because she came anointing the Lord – who anointed her. She gave all she had and He gave all He had (who got the better deal?)
Remember these words: “Brethren we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God, will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word.” (This is the line) “All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. Brethren pray & Holy Manna, will be showered all around.”
Typing that last line; I made a typo which jumped out at me. Instead of ‘pray’ I typed ‘pay’ and it dawned on me that this is the American way, but we need to know – our worship begins with prayer. If you have a piggy-bank with a million dollars inside – what good is it? UNTIL it’s broken!
