Intelligent Worship

Paul begins the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans outlining the appropriate response on the part of a Christian in the light of the mercy shown to us by God in what he has done for us through his Son: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” A biblical example of a truly grateful response is an incident recorded in Luke chapter seven, in which a “sinful” woman stood behind Jesus weeping and wiping his dirty feet with her hair, who then went on to anoint his feet with fragrant oil.

The man who had invited Jesus for a meal, a Pharisee named Simon, looked upon her with disgust and Jesus with disdain. In response, Jesus told a parable to the man to explain the nature of the woman’s actions.

In the parable two people were in financial debt to the same man with one owing much more than the other. Both, however, are described as having been unable to pay. The man who was owed the money mercifully forgave the both of them. The question that Jesus then posed to his host was, “Now which of them will love him more?” Simon acknowledged the obvious, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

Jesus went on to explain that this was why the woman was doing what she was doing, “. . . I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (v.47).

The lesson of the incident (or at least one of the things to be learned) is that such a response should not just be forthcoming from someone such as her; the one with the “gutter testimony.” Given the parable, it is clear that Jesus means to indicate that both Simon and the woman are debtors. And like the debtors in the parable, they both are unable to pay. The appropriate response for both of them, therefore, was what the woman was doing. In the end, the only difference between Simon and the woman is that she realized she was a sinner and he did not.

Whether we are a 50 or 500 denarii sinner, the more we contemplate the mercy and grace of God in saving us the greater will be our response of thankfulness and love toward him. And such a response is our “reasonable service” (NKJV), or “spiritual service of worship” (NASB), or, as Phillips translates it, combining the two ideas expressed in the two translations just cited, our “intelligent worship.”