Everyone in town knew her as a sinful woman, but her selfless display of extravagant worship changed how everyone remembers her now. Jesus was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper. “When [she] learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them” (Luke 7:37-38).
Imagine the depth of this woman’s tears being enough to clean the dusty feet of Jesus! Imagine the gratitude that moved her to boldly display her devotion and adoration of the Man reclining at the table. She had heard Him teach of the kingdom of heaven. She had understood the heart of the Lord. She had seen the miracles He had done. She had been delivered from her old way of life through His loving acceptance of her.
With tears flowing from a sobbing heart, she washed the Lord’s feet and wiped away the soil with the tresses of her hair. Then she perfumed His feet with oil from her alabaster jar that was valued at a year’s wages. Her love for Jesus knew no bounds. When the others voiced their disapproval of her extravagance, Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Oh, for the opportunity to kiss the feet of Jesus …
As the year 2000 approached, I felt the Holy Spirit had given me the phrase “Extravagant Worshipers” to use a banner over our department. As part of our weekly rehearsals at Hillsong, we attend teaching nights, and everything that was taught during that year was on this central theme. Our hunger for more of God had fueled the year in a magnificent way, and by the end of that first year I was excited at what 2001 would bring.
Then one quiet moment in prayer, the Lord gently whispered in my ear, Daughter, you’re not an extravagant worshiper yet. When one hears God say something like that, one humbly listens! So I realized I am not there yet; our team is not there yet; and if we are to continue to call ourselves “extravagant worshiper,” I understand that we have a long way to go.
So what does it mean to be an extravagant worshiper?
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the word extravagant as “2 a: exceeding the limits of reason b: lacking in moderation, balance, and restraint (praise) c: extremely or excessively elaborate 3 a: spending much more than necessary b: profuse, lavish.” The Holy Spirit is calling us to excessive worship. We’re to be overgenerous in our praises to God. Extravagant worship means to be elaborate in our offering of admiration to Him; our worship is to be over and above reasonable limits previously established.
The cause of Christ pumping away in our veins should cause extraordinary praise to the Father. I long to worship Jesus as did the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume! Excessive, abundant, expensive, superfluous, lavish, costly, precious, rich, priceless, valuable …
Jesus knew the woman who anointed Him with her precious perfume fully understood that she had been forgiven for terrible sins. Jesus explained this love she had for Him to Simon the Leper, telling him a parable about two servants who were forgiven for debts by their Master. One owed him a little: the other owed him much. Jesus continued the story:
“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 bigger debt cancelled.”
”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. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.
”The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgive sins?”Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”
(Luke 7:42-50)
When we stand before the Lord to worship Him, we are to worship Him in truth. To do so, we must ask ourselves, “How big are the debts Jesus canceled for me? How generous was He toward me when considering the pain my sins inflicted upon Him? How much thanks do I owe Him for canceling the consequences of my past? Am I overgenerous with my worship? Do I exceed reasonable limits when praising Him? Or am I merely doing what is required, merely fulfilling the basic level of commitment? Am I simply trying to earn my right of passage? If our worship is spiritual and truthful, we will search our souls and appraise the value we place on His love for us. What can we bring to the altar that represents extravagance?
I have had the honor of meeting some extravagant worshipers during my lifetime:
Among them is a young couple in our church who lost their young daughter through sickness, yet they worshiped their King through overwhelming grief and are sill doing so today.
A young man who was left paralyzed form his waist down through an accident was quickly back in our church services. With tears running down his face, his arms stretched heavenward, and his heart loving Jesus, he worshiped His Savior with extravagant thanksgiving.
A friend of mine, a young married other of four little ones, whose husband is in our worship team, is always in church, always early, always full of joy, and always found full of extravagant praise for her Lord.
The Oxford English Dictionary describes extravagant as “wasteful.” This word particularly grabbed my attention, for one of the most beautiful accounts of extravagant worship in the Bible is the story of how the gift of perfume from the sinful woman was considered “wasteful” by those around her. But as she poured out her costly perfume from the alabaster jar, she must have wished she had even more to give Him. As she poured out her tears in offering, He washed away her brokenness. As she loved extravagantly, He forgave extravagantly. Her action of elaborate love toward her Lord is a powerful example of true, heartfelt worship. Her act of worship had nothing to do with music or song, but it had all to do with being extravagant in devotion to her Savior.
What is worship, and what are we doing when we worship? True worship, the kind of worship that God seeks, is described in John 4:23-24: “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 worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
I have meditated on that Scripture for many hours. I understand true worship to be when one’s spirit adores and connects with the Spirit of God, when the very core of one’s being is found loving Him, lost in Him. True worship is not about the songs being sung; it is not about the size of the band; it is not about the size of the choir. Although music is a wonderful expression of worship, it is not in itself the essence of it. The core of worship is when one’s heart and soul, and all that is within, adores and connects with the Spirit of God. In fact, regardless of how magnificent the musical moments are, unless one’s heart is fully engaged in the worship being expressed, it is still only music. The song of pure heart that is yearning for more of God and less of one-self is the music that hold the key to many victories and delights the heart of our King.
Created to Worship
Isaiah 43:7 says that God created us for His glory. “ ‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior’” (Isaiah 43:10-11). First Chronicles 16:28-29 says, “Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”
Our worship pleases the Lord. There is real strength when believers bring a corporate offering of praise to God in the church, I love the sense of storming heaven with our praise when we unify in faith, I love when we, the body of Christ, can just be together in His magnificent presence. God’s Word encourages believers to continue meeting together saying, “And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities. Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25 AMP).
But also we must each worship our King in that secret place, that intimate time, one-on-one, as lover of Christ. There should be times of worship that only you and the Lord will ever know about. Even if you are part of a worship team, your most glorious moments of worship should be off the platform when you are alone with God. Heartfelt intimacy is private, and your most precious time with your best friend is not in the public moments. Moments alone with God should be revered.
When Jesus came to the village where Martha lives, she opened her home to Him. Her sister Mary (the same on who later anointed Jesus with perfume) sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Eventually she came to Jesus and asked, “ ‘ Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:40-42).
We can understand Martha’s concern. She was asking, “Lord, don’t you care? Don’t you love me for all that I am doing for you?” Of course God cares-and He cares that we learn the only service to Him that is needed. Mary chose to be in the presence of God; she chose to sit at His feet, to spend time in the Word of God. Mary chose what is most necessary.
There is no substitute for time spent alone with God; no substitute for a relationship with Christ. Singing lovely songs about the Lord is fantastic, but it is not enough. To worship is to speak to the Lord with words full of adoration. To worship God is to bow down to Him, to revere Him, and to hold in awe His beauty. I see worship as a kiss toward heaven.
Worship is a verb, defined as “regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.” It is an active expression of our love toward God. It is vibrant and visible by our deeds and not only by the words we speak. Worship involves the giving of ourselves totally to the Lord. Worship is neither a ritualistic activity nor a musical emotion. It embodies and reflects the selfless generosity of Christ. Worship is a movement of our heats, our thoughts, and our wills toward God’s heart, thoughts, and will.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.(1 Peter 2:9 KJV)
