What does “worship” mean to you? What do you think of when you hear the word?
If you’re a Christian, you may think of music or singing. A Muslim might think of the call to prayer, a Buddhist may think of chanting or bringing presents to Buddha. If you’re an atheist, you may think of worship as something done by only those who believe in a higher power (although it’s possible you worship other things in your behavior toward them).
But if you were a first century Jew, you most likely would have thought of worship as animal sacrifice. This required work. It wasn’t easy, quick, or self-serving. It was involved, laborious, time-consuming.
When the spotless Lamb came, He served as the ultimate, one-and-done sacrifice. God is so merciful and loving that He not only wanted to give His son to cleanse our sin, He wanted us to permanently do away with the practice of animal sacrifice so that we wouldn’t be constantly reminded of our transgressions.[1] He not only forgives us of our iniquity, He erases it from memory.
Thank God we don’t have to perform all this labor to atone for our own sin anymore. However, should worship now become trivial to us because we’re released from this burden? Can we continue to carry reverence for Him and what He’s worthy of, without carrying the weight of our sin? If anything, His kindness should push us further into worship.
Of course, God values the posture of our hearts toward Him even more than what we do for Him with our hands.[2] But my bet is that if the posture of our hearts is madly in love with Him and deeply grateful to Him, it will be difficult to keep that inside without expressing it in worship somehow.[3]
One of many examples we have in scripture of true worship post-animal-sacrifice is Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany. I think we’ve grown very detached from a “Mary of Bethany” type of worship offering. Worship has become something to serve us, i.e. “Do I like the music? Is this environment conducive to my comfort? Do the messages of these songs make me feel good? Are they centered around me, my life, and what’s relevant to that?” In other words, “am I getting what I want out of worship?”
This is the opposite of the purpose of worship. Our question to Him should be “what can I bring, what can I give to you? What pleases your heart?”
When Mary of Bethany poured out her alabaster jar on the feet of Jesus and cleaned them with her hair, it was costly.[4] This act of worship cost her her reputation, her life’s savings, her chance at a “future” in the eyes of the world. Jesus was so honored by this that He told us to remember her throughout the earth wherever the Gospel is preached.[5] This is sacrificial worship: giving Him our lives. To love Him with our whole lives will be costly, He promises us that. But to give ourselves away in worship is a pleasing fragrance to Him, and there is no greater fulfillment for us than that.
It may not be as literal for us to anoint Him as it was for Mary, when Jesus was in front of her in the flesh. But I don’t believe that means we can’t worship Him the way she did. In a way, it looks different for us now—maybe He is asking you to give away your life’s savings to someone else. Maybe you need to give up something else you really cherish. Maybe He wants more of our time that we say we “don’t have,” when really we just want to spend it on other things.
Maybe we could give Him our service, to obey the commands of His Word that we’re ignoring. Maybe you’ve never woken up early or stayed up late to sing your heart out to Him alone in your room, even if no one else in the whole world will hear except Him. If you don’t have any valuable possessions to bring to Him, you have your body to offer Him as a living sacrifice. If you lose the strength of your body, you have a voice to lift up to Him in song and declaration and adoration. Even if your possessions are taken and your body is broken and your voice is silenced, you have a heart to offer Him—in Spirit and in truth, inside of you, from anywhere at any time—an offering that can never be taken from you.
Psalm 29 begins with this command: “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.” To ascribe means “to regard something as being due to, to regard a quality as belonging to.” To assign, attribute, accredit.
What a scandal, that He would give us— finite, broken humans who He Himself created— the ability to ascribe glory to Him.
Is it because He could be made any more beautiful than He already is, or His glory could be added to? No; He is perfect, and complete perfection cannot be added to or taken away from. We can’t make Him any more glorious than He already is. However, we can neglect to acknowledge the glory that is already due to Him.
The goal in worshipping is not to be served or to receive anything from Him, it is to render glory where glory is already due. It’s not only a time to focus on what He can do for us, although there’s an endless list of wonderful things He gives— it’s a time to remember who He is. It is an opportunity to experience the liberation of taking our eyes off of ourselves, and praising someone far, far more vast than we are. He is glorified by this—to the point where we actually become the aroma of Christ not only to the world, but back to God Himself.[6]
1 Chronicles 16:23-34:
“Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, 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 holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth;
yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!”
Autumn Crew is the Managing Editor of FAI Publishing. She lives in the Middle East and serves a number of disciple-making initiatives. She can be reached at autumncrew@faimission.org.
[1] Hebrews 10:1-8
[2] 1 Samuel 15:22
[3] Romans 12:1
[4] John 12:3
[5] Matthew 26:13
[6] 2 Corinthians 2: 14-15