Worship Distinguished

1. The fragrance of the Tabernacle's incense

Exodus 30:34-38 provides a graphic illustration of worship. God gave many instructions regarding how worship was to be carried out in the Tabernacle.  Many of the instructions had great symbolic value and were used as teaching tools. One of these visual aids, described in Exodus 30:34-38, gives us a wonderful insight into the area of worship:

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, tempered together, pure and holy [i.e., unique, separate, and untouched by any other elements]: And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy."

Now this perfume, which was actually a sweet-smelling incense, was to be used only in the Tabernacle. Why? Because it was to be holy. Verse 37 continues, "And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell     thereto, shall even be cut off from his people." Now, did you know there was a perfume recipe in the Bible? It was probably the most lovely `fragrance imaginable, but God said that it could cost them their lives if they made if for themselves.

You say, "Well, what's the point?" The point is this: here was a fragrance designed to be only for God. When this incense rose to God's nostrils, it   was unique to Him. This is a beautiful picture of worship, showing that worship is to be a unique, separated, sanctified, holy act that arises out of a person's heart to the very nostrils of God.

2. The fragrance of Mary's ointment

As the fragrance of the incense in the Tabernacle rose to the nostrils of God, it signified worship. In John12:1-3, another fragrant gift is offered in worship. However, this time it was offered to the living God in human form the Lord Jesus Christ:

"Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made    him a supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly [probably a year's wages], and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment." Mary used that which was her glory, her hair (cf. 1Cor.11:15), to wash the dusty dirty feet of Jesus. And she didn't use water; she used a costly, fragrant ointment. That's the essence of worship. It's self-humiliating and profuse in its giving.

Mary and Martha were different. Martha was always serving, and Mary was always sitting at the feet of Jesus. In fact, Jesus had previously said that Mary chose to do what was better than all of Martha's serving (cf. Luke 10:   38-42). But when Judas saw what Mary did with the ointment, he said, "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?" (v.5). Verse 6 tells us that Judas didn't really care about the poor, he just wanted the money for himself. So Jesus said to him, "Let her alone...For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always" (vv. 7a, 8). In other words, it's better to worship than to give welfare. What we give God is infinitely more important than what we give to man - any  man. Now I'm not saying that it's not important to give to our fellow man, but it's more important to give to God.

We tend to be so pragmatic, don't we? We are a generation of Martha's - always busy. We have the church fine-tuned to a system, with all of its programs and activities. And we are very careful not to waste our     substance; so much so, that even what we give to God we tend to mark out very care-fully, rather than to pour out that which is a year's wages and to stoop in humility to wipe His feet with our hair.

Mary's act was an act of worship. As the fragrance rose from her ointment, it portrayed the essence of a worshiping heart. That's what God is after. True worship is better than welfare and religious activity. Although those things are necessary and good, worship is better. And yet, I fear that many of us don't even know what worship is.

Worship Distinguished

I think a comparison of worship with ministry might help to distinguish what true worship really is. Ministry is that which comes down to us from the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to one another in the form of spiritual gifts. Worship, on the other hand, is that which goes up from us, by the Spirit's power through the Son, to the Father. Thus, ministry is that which descends from God to us, while worship is that which ascends from us to God. And both must be in perfect balance. Unfortunately, we tend to be too ministry oriented (like Martha) and not oriented enough toward worship. We need to learn from Mary how to sit at Jesus' feet and worship Him.

Ask yourself the following questions: "Do I worship God? Is worship a priority for me? Do I faithfully and regularly attend church with a deep heart of commitment to worship God? Am I so consumed with a hungering desire to worship God that I hurry myself into the assembly of His people for the expression of worship?" Well, God seeks acceptable, true, spiritual worship, and if we're going give it to Him, we must understand what it is.

                                                           PAGE 1 2