Worship That Costs Something

Luke 7:37–50 (NLT)

When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

We don’t quite know the immorality of this woman, but it is made clear: it was known among the religious crowd that this woman was a sinner so her sin was probably out there for all to see

We don’t even know the identity of the woman

It was brave of her to enter the home of a religious man, uninvited (she would never be anyway). This showed her courage and determination to honor Jesus.

Scripture tells us that the alabaster box was “beautiful, filled with expensive perfume”

This gift wasn’t an ordinary gift for a house guest. This gift was of the highest quality and cost her something.

She began to anoint His feet with the perfume and as she began to minister to Him, she began to weep and kiss His feet.

Think of how awkward that must’ve been for all in the room (except Jesus). Think of how she had to go in there, face the judgmental stares. If she thought of those things, she didn’t let it stop her. She had one mission and one alone: to minister to the Savior that had brought her something more than she deserved. Her determination to worship destroyed any fear of judgement. What she was worshipping about became more important than any worldly distraction

The Pharisee, who was supposed to be the most devout worshipper and believer, judged this woman’s worship in his heart.

See Simon only saw what she had been, not the person she was (which was a humble sinner who needed forgiveness and wanted to show her love for Jesus).

Jesus told the story of a man who had a massive debt and a man who had a minor debt. Both couldn’t repay, but the one they owed decided to forgive them anyway. The one who was in the most debt was the most thankful

See, whether you realize it or not, we all have debt that needs to be paid. We were all born sinners and needed rescue from the power and penalty of our sin.

Romans 5:8 “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

If you are saved, today God’s holy standards have been met by Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection. If you trust in Him, you no longer have to prove your worth or do enough good things to please Him. What He did empowers you to live FREELY and through that freedom and His power living in you, you begin to want to please Him not out of proving yourself, but loving Him.

We can get it mistaken in this story. We can think that just because she showed this bold and emotional love for Jesus, Jesus forgave her. No, it was because of the forgiveness He gave that she showed this great love. The great love was a response to what He offered her.

The religious man didn’t treat Jesus like this. He didn’t even treat Him to the common house guest courtesies of that time which was the washing of feet, a kiss for greeting, and anointing of the head. He didn’t even honor Jesus as a normal house guest, let alone as the one who was prophesied in Matthew 1:21 “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

How many times have we been like the Pharisee instead of like the woman washing Jesus’ feet?

Students, how many times do we come into God’s presence in church or in our own personal time and not treat Him like He deserves?

We causally come into service. We causally worship, maybe even disrupting others from worshipping during that time as well. We causally listen to the message God is speaking to us and even don’t honor that with our attention. And we leave and call it “alright”. We don’t leave changed. We don’t leave with a sense of thankfulness. We don’t leave with new knowledge, and its because we come in causally to the presence of God and not come in with sacrifice.

The woman’s worship cost her something. For her, it cost money to pour that perfume out. It cost her dignity in front of men. It cost her judgmental looks and comments. However, what Jesus did for her was worth everything she could bring. She laid out everything for Him.

Students, does your worship cost you something?

Does it cost you conversations with your friends?

Does it cost you time scrolling through Tiktok or IG?

Does it cost your full attention?

For worship to be worth anything it must cost you something.

We must shift our view of worship from “What can it do for me?” to “What is something of value that I can bring God?”

Worship was never meant to be about us.

Worship can bring joy to you. It can bring peace to you. It can make a bad day better. It can change circumstances. However, we don’t do it for us. We do it because He is worthy of all we can offer.

Let me upset you real quick: Sometimes you are gonna worship and feel NOTHING. Your circumstance may not change. You may still have to fight the enemy about something. You might still not feel well, have your peace, or your joy. That doesn’t mean that God isn’t going to give it someday, but worship was never meant to be something you do to get something in return.

2 Samuel 24:18–25 (NLT)

That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him. When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked. David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.” “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.” But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

In the OT, an altar was a place where they would sacrifice animals to repent of sin, to give thanks to God, and worship Him.

Today, altars are symbolic of the same. They are a place a repentance, a place to give thanks, and worship God.

David had sinned against the Lord and there was judgment upon the land.

God tells Him to go build an altar in this particular man’s land

It seems like a blessing here that Araunah would offer David all the supplies needed for the sacrifice. Looking at it a different way though, it was a temptation to give something to God without cost from him.

It would cost something for Araunah. I don’t think he was trying to make David sin, I believe he was just trying to be a giver.

But God told David to build the altar and to use it, not Araunah.

Instead of offering something of no value, David says “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.”

Watch, as David paid for the land and the animals for sacrifice in obedience, it says, “And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.”

What if God is waiting on your obedience of costly worship to do the miraculous in this generation?

What if He is waiting on you to sacrifice praise to Him to pour out His Spirit on you?

God is asking us to build an altar in our personal lives, in Generations Youth, and in Generations Church, and give COSTLY worship to Him.

God is asking us to set aside the distractions of social media, halt the conversations with our friends, give Him our time, let it COST us something to worship Him and be with Him

Its time we build back the altar in our lives. Its time we start sacrificing our pleasures for the Lord. 2024 isn’t the year to coast, it is the year to press in.

NOTE: To build an altar in your life to God, to sacrifice and worship God with cost you more than you realize. It is not popular. It is not going to get you likes. It is not going to get you many kind comments.

Luke 14:27–33 “And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”

This doesn’t mean you have to leave everything in your life.

This means that you are willing to give up everything for Jesus first before anything else. Whatever He asks for, you will do.