Experiencing Extravagant Worship
Sermon
Experiencing Easter
The Lenten Journey of Death to Life
Gentlemen, imagine that you want to take your wife or girlfriend on an extravagant date. Perhaps it's a major anniversary or the right time to pop the question. At any rate, you want to show how much you love her. What would you be willing to spend? Fifty dollars or maybe even $100 a plate? And you'd probably want to give her a dozen roses, wouldn't you?1
Now, nothing caps off a romantic evening better than fine chocolates. The Noka Vintages Collection made in Dallas will only cost you $854 per pound -- good choice. But nothing says, "I love you" like the gift of perfume. May I suggest Clive Christian's No. 1? At $2,150 an ounce it isn't cheap, but isn't she worth it?
Perhaps that all sounds a little extravagant. But aren't there times and reasons for being extravagant? Sometimes, the only way to express what we feel is by going against the ordinary and doing the extraordinary.
Babette's Feast is a Danish movie based on the book by Isak Dineson. In nineteenth-century Denmark, two spinster sisters live in an isolated seacoast village with their father, who is an honored Puritan pastor of a small Protestant church. Although they each are presented with the opportunity to marry and leave the village, the sisters choose to stay with their father -- to serve both him and their church.
After their father dies, the two spinster sisters provide leadership for their small church. The group has dwindled to eleven sour-faced, pious elderly people filled with pride and suspicious of each other.
One stormy, rainy night, Babette arrives at the door of the sisters as she flees the French civil war. Drenched, exhausted, and needing sanctuary, she is a middle-aged refugee from Paris bearing a letter of recommendation from a former suitor of one of the sisters. The letter simply says, "Babette can cook."
Babette ends up staying fourteen years with the sisters, cleaning and cooking for her own room and board. Her only link to her former life is a lottery ticket that a friend in Paris renews for her every year. Then comes the exciting news that her lottery ticket has won 10,000 francs. The two sisters celebrate her good fortune but begin to grieve what they believe will be the leaving of their friend, Babette.
What Babette does next is an extravagant expression of love and gratitude. The sisters and the church had been planning a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of their founding pastor/father. Babette asks permission from the sisters to not only prepare the meal, but also to pay for it with her own money. Because Babette is Catholic, the sisters have reservations but reluctantly agree.
The church members and a few other guests gather for Babette's feast. As the cold wind howls outside, Babette treats them all to an incredible, gourmet dinner of turtle soup, caviar, quail, pastries, champagne, and rare aged wine. It is unlike anything the village has ever seen. After the feast, Babette reveals that she was once chef at a world-renowned cafe in Paris. Even more shocking is the revelation that Babette has spent her entire 10,000 francs on the feast.
At first glance, it would seem that this extravagant gift is wasted on an unappreciative pious congregation. But, that's not the way it turns out. The pious sisters and their community finally learn the true depths of faith -- something which is more than just what we believe, but rather also reflects what we do and the love with which we do it. Babette's extravagant gift was one of genuine love.
In today's scripture, Mary behaves in much the same way. Mary shows us one of the most important things we need to understand if we want to draw near to the heart of Jesus. We need to learn to love him extravagantly with our whole heart.
With a heart filled with joy and thanksgiving, Mary broke the narrow neck of an alabaster jar containing a pound of pure nard and poured it on Jesus' feet. Notice it was pure nard -- meaning it was very expensive. Nard could be thinned out with oil, but this was pure. This costly perfume was derived from a special plant which grew only in India. For a modern comparison, the nard would be worth about $12,300 to us. A pound of Channel No. 5 is only $2,000. Can you imagine pouring all of it on your feet? If we were to spend that much on perfume, we would want it to last a lifetime.
Why did Mary do it? It was an act of worship -- an extravagant act of worship. Worship is about ascribing worth. Mary's action shows her understanding of the majesty and greatness of Jesus Christ. She shows exactly what she thinks Jesus is worth when she pours the expensive nard on his feet. She willingly, cheerfully, and eagerly gives the finest thing that she has. This is not a duty, but a delight, for her. If she had something of greater value to give, no doubt she would have given it to her Lord.
Mary's worship is selfless, sacrificial, and even extravagant. As we look at Mary's extravagant love, I hope we'll see what true worship looks like and learn to practice it in our own lives.
In contrast to Mary in the scripture is Judas Iscariot. His reaction was "What a waste!" But I challenge us to consider, would we have thought much differently?
Laura Jernigan tells of vacationing with family members one summer at a beach house. One morning, she woke up to the smell of baking bread drifting up from the kitchen. She quickly dressed, went downstairs, and found her sister-in-law in the kitchen. She was just taking a loaf of freshly baked bread out of the oven. Jernigan said hopefully, "Wow! Is this for breakfast?"
Her sister-in-law replied, "No, not this loaf. This one is for the birds."
Not understanding at all, Jernigan asked, "What?"
She repeated herself, "This one is for the birds." Then pointing to a lump of dough, she added, "The next one is for us."
Hoping that she was simply too groggy to understand, Jernigan asked for clarification, "You mean you are going to give a new loaf of bread to the birds?"
Once again her sister-in-law reiterated, "Yes, that's right."
Jernigan couldn't believe it. She thought, "What a waste of homemade bread on those noisy seagulls."
Her sister-in-law smiled and walked past her, heading down to the beach. Jernigan ran to the deck, convinced she was kidding. She wasn't. She got to the sand, and began tearing off hunks of the loaf and throwing them up in the air to the birds, who swooped and ate it happily.
Jernigan did get her fresh bread that morning from the second loaf -- but for a long while, she couldn't get over that loaf thrown to the birds. Birds get the leftover, dried-up crusts and end-pieces of store-bought bread, not the first loaf out of the oven! She didn't get it.2
Judas didn't get it, either. He looked at Mary's act of extravagant worship as a waste. Then again, he wasn't worshiping Jesus -- he was worshiping money. As the scripture points out, he didn't think it was a waste because he cared about the poor. He simply wanted the money for himself. The scripture says, "He was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it."
Worship is about ascribing worth. Mary was showing her gratitude to Jesus for raising her brother Lazarus from the dead. What was that worth to her? Everything.
Jesus has given us the gift of life as well. The scripture asks of us the question, "What is that worth to us?" Do we respond like Mary or Judas?
One bold minister probably speaks for most of us. One Sunday after he received the offering plates from the ushers following the collection, he then held them up to the heavens, and offered this prayer of dedication, "O Lord, despite what we say, this is what we really think of you."
If we really examine ourselves this Lent, we are probably more like Judas than we want to be. We are prone to be extravagant toward ourselves but not toward others.
Michael Slaughter is the minister at Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio. With a background in social work, Michael set up a ministry to connect people in his church with families needing help. The idea is to holistically help by establishing a family-to-family relationship. At Christmas, the Slaughter family had two families -- their own and their adopted family.
The mother of the adoptive family was named Judy and she needed help with Christmas. While Michael and Cindy went shopping for their own family, they were buying Levi's, Adidas, and Gap. When it came time to shop for Judy's family, they went to K-Mart. Her kids were getting K-Mart clothes and K-Mart shoes.
But somewhere on the way to K-Mart, Michael said, "I'm giving the best for my family, why am I going 'discount' for Judy's family?" So they bought the same for both families -- they were just as extravagant with their adoptive family as they were with their own.3
The gospel of Luke says it: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mary gave extravagantly. It was obvious what she treasured -- her life-giving Savior. It was just as obvious what Judas treasured -- extravagance for himself.
It takes a great faith to experience extravagant worship. It takes a great faith to forget about the cost of discipleship -- to completely pour out our whole heart, soul, mind, and body before our worthy Christ. Extravagant worship is holding nothing back, laying it all on the altar for him.
Showing Jesus' worth with the expensive nard was an act of extravagant faith. The Swiss psychiatrist, Paul Tournier, gave an illustration of extravagant faith. He said, "Faith is like a trapeze artist who is swinging on one bar. He is going to turn loose and grab another bar; but there's a moment after he has turned loose of the security of the second bar where he is hanging in the air with no net underneath ... The Christian life is like this -- a lot of turning loose and taking hold in the living of life."4
How often we see people of faith at their best in the act of "turning loose." Mary turned loose of some very expensive perfume. But in the process, she grabbed hold of her Savior -- she grabbed hold of what Judas couldn't grasp.
If we haven't grasped it before, I hope we grasp it this Lent. I hope we understand what our salvation is worth -- everything. If we love Jesus, then we will experience extravagant worship. We will be as extravagant toward him as we are to ourselves -- holding back nothing. Let us experience the extravagant worship of Jesus. Amen.
____________
1. Prices found at Forbes.com.
2. Laura Jernigan, "Bread and Oil," The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2004, David N. Mosser, editor (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), pp. 126-128.
3. Roger Sizemore sermon, "Learning to Splurge," found at http://www.firstchristianatlanta.com/sermon01/1apr.htm.
4. Emphasis (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2004), March-April, p. 35.
Now, nothing caps off a romantic evening better than fine chocolates. The Noka Vintages Collection made in Dallas will only cost you $854 per pound -- good choice. But nothing says, "I love you" like the gift of perfume. May I suggest Clive Christian's No. 1? At $2,150 an ounce it isn't cheap, but isn't she worth it?
Perhaps that all sounds a little extravagant. But aren't there times and reasons for being extravagant? Sometimes, the only way to express what we feel is by going against the ordinary and doing the extraordinary.
Babette's Feast is a Danish movie based on the book by Isak Dineson. In nineteenth-century Denmark, two spinster sisters live in an isolated seacoast village with their father, who is an honored Puritan pastor of a small Protestant church. Although they each are presented with the opportunity to marry and leave the village, the sisters choose to stay with their father -- to serve both him and their church.
After their father dies, the two spinster sisters provide leadership for their small church. The group has dwindled to eleven sour-faced, pious elderly people filled with pride and suspicious of each other.
One stormy, rainy night, Babette arrives at the door of the sisters as she flees the French civil war. Drenched, exhausted, and needing sanctuary, she is a middle-aged refugee from Paris bearing a letter of recommendation from a former suitor of one of the sisters. The letter simply says, "Babette can cook."
Babette ends up staying fourteen years with the sisters, cleaning and cooking for her own room and board. Her only link to her former life is a lottery ticket that a friend in Paris renews for her every year. Then comes the exciting news that her lottery ticket has won 10,000 francs. The two sisters celebrate her good fortune but begin to grieve what they believe will be the leaving of their friend, Babette.
What Babette does next is an extravagant expression of love and gratitude. The sisters and the church had been planning a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of their founding pastor/father. Babette asks permission from the sisters to not only prepare the meal, but also to pay for it with her own money. Because Babette is Catholic, the sisters have reservations but reluctantly agree.
The church members and a few other guests gather for Babette's feast. As the cold wind howls outside, Babette treats them all to an incredible, gourmet dinner of turtle soup, caviar, quail, pastries, champagne, and rare aged wine. It is unlike anything the village has ever seen. After the feast, Babette reveals that she was once chef at a world-renowned cafe in Paris. Even more shocking is the revelation that Babette has spent her entire 10,000 francs on the feast.
At first glance, it would seem that this extravagant gift is wasted on an unappreciative pious congregation. But, that's not the way it turns out. The pious sisters and their community finally learn the true depths of faith -- something which is more than just what we believe, but rather also reflects what we do and the love with which we do it. Babette's extravagant gift was one of genuine love.
In today's scripture, Mary behaves in much the same way. Mary shows us one of the most important things we need to understand if we want to draw near to the heart of Jesus. We need to learn to love him extravagantly with our whole heart.
With a heart filled with joy and thanksgiving, Mary broke the narrow neck of an alabaster jar containing a pound of pure nard and poured it on Jesus' feet. Notice it was pure nard -- meaning it was very expensive. Nard could be thinned out with oil, but this was pure. This costly perfume was derived from a special plant which grew only in India. For a modern comparison, the nard would be worth about $12,300 to us. A pound of Channel No. 5 is only $2,000. Can you imagine pouring all of it on your feet? If we were to spend that much on perfume, we would want it to last a lifetime.
Why did Mary do it? It was an act of worship -- an extravagant act of worship. Worship is about ascribing worth. Mary's action shows her understanding of the majesty and greatness of Jesus Christ. She shows exactly what she thinks Jesus is worth when she pours the expensive nard on his feet. She willingly, cheerfully, and eagerly gives the finest thing that she has. This is not a duty, but a delight, for her. If she had something of greater value to give, no doubt she would have given it to her Lord.
Mary's worship is selfless, sacrificial, and even extravagant. As we look at Mary's extravagant love, I hope we'll see what true worship looks like and learn to practice it in our own lives.
In contrast to Mary in the scripture is Judas Iscariot. His reaction was "What a waste!" But I challenge us to consider, would we have thought much differently?
Laura Jernigan tells of vacationing with family members one summer at a beach house. One morning, she woke up to the smell of baking bread drifting up from the kitchen. She quickly dressed, went downstairs, and found her sister-in-law in the kitchen. She was just taking a loaf of freshly baked bread out of the oven. Jernigan said hopefully, "Wow! Is this for breakfast?"
Her sister-in-law replied, "No, not this loaf. This one is for the birds."
Not understanding at all, Jernigan asked, "What?"
She repeated herself, "This one is for the birds." Then pointing to a lump of dough, she added, "The next one is for us."
Hoping that she was simply too groggy to understand, Jernigan asked for clarification, "You mean you are going to give a new loaf of bread to the birds?"
Once again her sister-in-law reiterated, "Yes, that's right."
Jernigan couldn't believe it. She thought, "What a waste of homemade bread on those noisy seagulls."
Her sister-in-law smiled and walked past her, heading down to the beach. Jernigan ran to the deck, convinced she was kidding. She wasn't. She got to the sand, and began tearing off hunks of the loaf and throwing them up in the air to the birds, who swooped and ate it happily.
Jernigan did get her fresh bread that morning from the second loaf -- but for a long while, she couldn't get over that loaf thrown to the birds. Birds get the leftover, dried-up crusts and end-pieces of store-bought bread, not the first loaf out of the oven! She didn't get it.2
Judas didn't get it, either. He looked at Mary's act of extravagant worship as a waste. Then again, he wasn't worshiping Jesus -- he was worshiping money. As the scripture points out, he didn't think it was a waste because he cared about the poor. He simply wanted the money for himself. The scripture says, "He was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it."
Worship is about ascribing worth. Mary was showing her gratitude to Jesus for raising her brother Lazarus from the dead. What was that worth to her? Everything.
Jesus has given us the gift of life as well. The scripture asks of us the question, "What is that worth to us?" Do we respond like Mary or Judas?
One bold minister probably speaks for most of us. One Sunday after he received the offering plates from the ushers following the collection, he then held them up to the heavens, and offered this prayer of dedication, "O Lord, despite what we say, this is what we really think of you."
If we really examine ourselves this Lent, we are probably more like Judas than we want to be. We are prone to be extravagant toward ourselves but not toward others.
Michael Slaughter is the minister at Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio. With a background in social work, Michael set up a ministry to connect people in his church with families needing help. The idea is to holistically help by establishing a family-to-family relationship. At Christmas, the Slaughter family had two families -- their own and their adopted family.
The mother of the adoptive family was named Judy and she needed help with Christmas. While Michael and Cindy went shopping for their own family, they were buying Levi's, Adidas, and Gap. When it came time to shop for Judy's family, they went to K-Mart. Her kids were getting K-Mart clothes and K-Mart shoes.
But somewhere on the way to K-Mart, Michael said, "I'm giving the best for my family, why am I going 'discount' for Judy's family?" So they bought the same for both families -- they were just as extravagant with their adoptive family as they were with their own.3
The gospel of Luke says it: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mary gave extravagantly. It was obvious what she treasured -- her life-giving Savior. It was just as obvious what Judas treasured -- extravagance for himself.
It takes a great faith to experience extravagant worship. It takes a great faith to forget about the cost of discipleship -- to completely pour out our whole heart, soul, mind, and body before our worthy Christ. Extravagant worship is holding nothing back, laying it all on the altar for him.
Showing Jesus' worth with the expensive nard was an act of extravagant faith. The Swiss psychiatrist, Paul Tournier, gave an illustration of extravagant faith. He said, "Faith is like a trapeze artist who is swinging on one bar. He is going to turn loose and grab another bar; but there's a moment after he has turned loose of the security of the second bar where he is hanging in the air with no net underneath ... The Christian life is like this -- a lot of turning loose and taking hold in the living of life."4
How often we see people of faith at their best in the act of "turning loose." Mary turned loose of some very expensive perfume. But in the process, she grabbed hold of her Savior -- she grabbed hold of what Judas couldn't grasp.
If we haven't grasped it before, I hope we grasp it this Lent. I hope we understand what our salvation is worth -- everything. If we love Jesus, then we will experience extravagant worship. We will be as extravagant toward him as we are to ourselves -- holding back nothing. Let us experience the extravagant worship of Jesus. Amen.
____________
1. Prices found at Forbes.com.
2. Laura Jernigan, "Bread and Oil," The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2004, David N. Mosser, editor (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), pp. 126-128.
3. Roger Sizemore sermon, "Learning to Splurge," found at http://www.firstchristianatlanta.com/sermon01/1apr.htm.
4. Emphasis (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2004), March-April, p. 35.
