Reach for Jesus With Joy & Intentional WorshipSample

You’re Still God

By: Dan Dean

After Jesus had completed his teachings, he said to his disciples, “You know that the Feast of the Passover begins in two more days. That’s when the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over to be crucified.”

Then Jesus went to Bethany, to the home of Simon, a man Jesus had healed of leprosy. A woman came into the house, holding an alabaster flask filled with fragrant and expensive oil. She walked right up to Jesus, and in a lavish gesture of devotion, she poured out the costly oil, and it cascaded over his head as he was at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were offended. “What a total waste!” they grumbled. “We could have sold it for a great deal of money and given it to the poor.”

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Why are you critical of this woman? She has done a beautiful act of kindness for me. You will always have someone poor whom you can help, but you will not always have me. When she poured the fragrant oil over me, she was preparing my body for burial. I promise you that as this wonderful gospel spreads all over the world, the story of her lavish devotion to me will also be mentioned in memory of her.” Matt. 26:1-13

One of my beloved mentors was only 61 years old when he contracted a terminal disease called “amyloidosis.” It is a very rare disease. There are only around 4,000 cases a year recorded in the United States. This was a man who had built many churches and mentored many young pastors like me. Without a doubt, he had a tremendous influence on my life and did tremendous good with his life. Sadly, he passed within a year of his diagnosis.

During his last few months, he talked about what he learned as he walked the final year battling his illness. He shared that he experienced three stages on his journey toward death. The first stage was the “why” stage: “Lord, why did this happen to me? I still have lots of energy to do things for your Kingdom.” That path leads to depression and sadness and eventually to the second stage of his journey, the anger stage. Questions and feelings inside of him caused incredible tension and stress. Both stages ended at a dead-end road, but he eventually arrived at the third stage. He called it the “praise stage.” He began to praise God every day he woke up and allowed his day to be filled with praise and worship music. He simply allowed his heart and mind to be filled with praise. And when he reached this stage, he recounted that it seemed as if the world opened up to him. The anger, bitterness, and questions melted into a sea of thankfulness.

Jesus was a giver. He constantly gave and gave and gave some more. Often, He would withdraw to receive from God and pray, but note that He is in receiving mode in this passage. On this rare occasion, He rebukes his own disciples when they try to change the narrative.

In a matter of hours, Jesus will celebrate Passover with his disciples. He will again be with them, and, as is the norm, he will be giving instruction and mentoring, similarly, in the giving mode. Later in the night, the soldiers will come and lead him away to his execution. Immediately following the Passover supper; the last thing that happens before they go out into the night:

After singing a hymn, they went to the Mount of Olives. Soon after, Judas appears, and the passion of the Christ begins.

The last thing he does before the torment is sing a worship song. During his ordeal, he is buoyed by the fragrance of one who gave Him praise.

I’m told that the sense of hearing is one of the last things a person loses before dying. I wonder where the sense of smell is in the course of things? Because in Jesus’ final hours, we are told that the precious perfume of a woman’s praise is still clinging to his hair and skin. The praise of a worshipper gave fragrance to the world’s savior as he spent his final hours before succumbing to death.

A few things to note about the woman’s worship that we would do well to imitate:

First, she worshipped with intentionality. This was not a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment decision. There was planning involved. She had to retrieve the fragrance from the place of safety where she had stored it away and then carry it to the house where Jesus was staying. You don’t just walk out of the house for a dinner party carrying this expensive gift without intentionality. She knew before she left her home what she intended to do. After all, this fragrance was very precious - the equivalent of one year’s wages.

Secondly, note that she worshiped God without reservation. Do you wonder what she was thinking as she approached where Jesus was staying? Was the thought of “how much should I pour on him” going through her head? After all, even just a few ounces of this costly fragrance would’ve no doubt filled the room and followed him to the cross.

I don’t believe she had any reservations or pauses. When she got there, she just broke the container and poured all of it onto his head. She decided he was worth all that she had. Jesus is deserving of the best we have and without withholding anything.

Lastly, she worshipped creatively in a way that expressed her heart’s passion. She had not attended a seminar titled “Effective Ways to Worship with Costly Ointments.” To our knowledge, no one had ever taught her how to worship Jesus. It was her idea. It was her way. It was in her heart. She devised this particular method to tell her savior how much she loved him.

Is it any wonder that over 2,000 years later, we are still talking about the gift she brought? Jesus said that the story of her lavish devotion would be told as long as the gospel story was told.

My wonderful mentor (like this incredible worshipper in Matthew 16) discovered a secret in his final days. Worship holds the key to many of life’s difficult moments.

Here’s what I want to encourage you to do, regardless of where you find yourself today. Take time to offer worship. Make it focused. Make it intentional. Search your heart to see how the love and passion in your heart for Jesus will express itself. And then offer him worship without reservation. God’s word tells us that this ever-giving God will look for and anticipate your worship.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23