The Posture of Worship

There is a posture to worship. Physically, the Bible often describes it as bowing down or prostrating oneself. Of greater import, however, is the posture of the soul. It’s not difficult to see why. One can be flat on one’s face in a setting in which worship is being offered and yet remain bolt upright in heart. An unwillingness to yield to the majesty and worth of God is the essence of rebellion and idolatry, and it is an attitude that can creep into any worship service no matter how quiet or how raucous. Worship, true worship, involves the soul of a person acknowledging the worth of God and giving the honor that is due him. This was the worship Mary offered to Jesus.

It is an extraordinary scene. She enters the room where Jesus is dining and breaks open an alabaster flask of expensive perfume. She then begins to anoint the head and feet of Jesus. Then, and this perhaps the most shocking of all given the cultural context in which this act took place, she assumes the posture of a slave at the feet of Jesus, let’s down her hair, and begins to wipe off his feet with it. Time must have stopped in that room. 

Were others embarrassed for her? Perhaps, but she was not, and neither was Jesus. When some (and in particular, Judas) protested, Jesus rebuked the detractors saying she had done something beautiful for him. Whether she realized it or not, she had saved the perfume for his burial, something which was about to take place as he laid down his life “for the nation and . . . to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51, 52).

Mary’s worship was sacrificial. She held nothing back. The perfume used was costly, her servile behavior considered shameful, the cultural barriers breached, scorned. But Jesus was worth it. Her life had been rescued from futility and she had a foretaste of the eternal life that he promised. She had sat at his feet and pondered the ultimate reality he spoke of, she witnessed his heartache at the brokenness of the world, and she was stunned at the power he possessed to overcome sin and death. When the opportunity came, what else could she do but pour out her life at his feet in adoration and gratitude in the posture of worship?

Declaring God's Worth - The Heart of Worship

The etymological root of the word 'worship' is worth-ship. I think that's helpful to remember when we consider what it means to worship God. In our worship we are declaring his worth. Acts 2:11 comes to mind. At Pentecost, the people observing those recently anointed by the Holy Spirit are amazed: "We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." The same could be said by us when we read the testimony of the grateful psalmist of Psalm 116: "We hear him telling of his mercifully deliverance when he cried out, 'O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!'" 

God's worth is on our tongues when we recount his attributes, his works, his faithfulness. We know his worth because we have experienced first hand the result of believing in him. We are humbled by election, dumbfounded by justification, encouraged by sanctification, and bolstered by promised glorification. These gospel realities we can appreciate by pondering what God has revealed in this word, and they are sufficient to provoke us to declare his worth every day. But the psalmist offers additional cause for expressing worship -- God's intimate, merciful, and sufficient answer to prayer. If you would closely read that beautiful psalm, I am confident you will sense the vital relationship that he shares with the Lord. He was desperate, in anguish, feeling the tentacles of death ensnaring him, and he knew that he was partly to blame for the situation he found himself in. His naiveté made him vulnerable to unscrupulous men (v. 6 & 11). Nevertheless, in faith he cried out to God for deliverance, and God "inclined his ear," and heard his "pleas for mercy." Fresh fuel for passionate worship. As a result, he vows, "I will call on him as long as I live . . . I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

This kind of lively faith, a faith that animates our daily walk, brings an immediacy to our worship when we gather each Lord's Day. We have fresh evidence of his worth to make known to the congregation. We have experienced anew his love for us, his faithfulness to his promises, his intention to carry us through each day, each circumstance, until we come to stand before him face-to-face. The psalmist learned this and we can hear how it caused him to worship: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."

If you have such a declaration to make, make it in church this Sunday. Come ready to declare among your fellow saints God's worth-ship!