“Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””
— Luke 7:48-50; NLT
And so we reach the final section of this series; what was Jesus’ Response to this act of worship? “Your sins have been forgiven…Your faith has saved you now go in peace”. Jesus’ response to the woman was one of love. There was no condemnation for this woman’s sin, only forgiveness. No longer was this woman separated from God – despite her immorality, she had been restored to full relationship with him.
14.
At Jesus’ feet, we will find forgiveness, restoration and peace
When we initially turn to Jesus, this is our first act of worship where we receive forgiveness of our sins – all those times in our life where we have messed up, chosen to do things our way instead of seeking God’s way – our relationship with our heavenly father is restored, and we receive the promise of eternal life with him (our place in heaven is secured).
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16
But salvation encompasses so much more than only forgiveness of sins – this is just the first part of it. Romans 5:10 says
“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”
Our relationship is immediately restored and our eternity is safe but this verse goes on to say “we will certainly be saved”, like there is more to it.
In Philippians 2:12, Paul tells us to “work out” our salvation, according to God at work within us, to “will and to act according to his good purpose.” Salvation therefore clearly wasn’t supposed to be a one-off moment in our lives – it was intended to simply be the first step on a life-long journey. Jesus’ death was absolutely a once-and-for-all atonement of our sins. But the fullness of salvation is a continual, ongoing process that will not reach completion until we return home to heaven.
“For he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6
We can of course decide not to experience the fullness of salvation and be satisfied with just a secure eternity, but we will miss out on so much whilst we are here on earth. And, as with any relationship, we run the risk of falling away and loosing touch. Our relationship with God takes work in order for that relationship to be sustained, grow, and mature, and thus the process of salvation begins.
We must spend time with God to deepen and grow our relationship with him, praising him, listening to him, reading his word. This process takes obedience to God’s voice and the more we know him, the more we become like him. We need to continually ensure we are paying attention to and carrying out what God has said and is saying in order that we do not drift away.
“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding…how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” — Hebrews 2:1-2, emphasis added
This salvation journey that we begin is huge and will not be completed until we reach heaven. But the journey itself is incredible. Through a deepening relationship with Jesus, the promise is our spirits are being being restored to him (John 3:6), we are renewed in strength (2 Corinthians 4:16), we are being sanctified/made holy through our obedience (Romans 6:19), we are transformed into his image (2 Corinthians 3:18) and we are glorified along with him (Romans 8:30).
In Romans 12:1, Paul urges us to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – [for] this is your true and proper worship.” In verse 2, he goes on to say that it is through the process of being “transformed” by the renewing of our minds that we will be able to test and approve God’s will for our lives.
Yet notice that Paul says in the verse Philippians 2 to “work out” our salvation, not “work for”. Throughout the bible, it’s made infinitely clear that it isn’t by anything we have or can do that we are ultimately able to be saved. Salvation is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is only through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we can receive eternal life with him and it is only through drawing closer to Jesus that he continues the process of salvation within us.
And with this assurance of fullness of life in him and an eternity that is secure, like the woman with the alabaster jar, we can “go” in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, which will “guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7)
15.
Worship makes way for God to speak
Throughout the woman’s actions in Luke 7 that, although Jesus addresses Simon, no dialogue is recorded from Jesus towards the woman until at the very end of this extravagant act. When we worship, we turn our attention back to God and we welcome his holy presence into our lives. As we praise, we realign our focus onto Jesus and we open our hearts and minds to his authority over us. We open our eyes to see more clearly and our ears to hear with more clarity, shifting our attention from our own plans to God’s will and purpose for our lives. And when we do this, the promise is that God will speak to us.
“When you call to me, I will answer you. I will be with you when you are in trouble. I will save you and honour you.” — Psalm 91:15
God is singing over us. Worship is about us joining with him.
This is true when we worship alone but it is just as true for the times we worship together. Have you ever wondered why we have a time of musical worship at the beginning of a church service, before we hear from the word of God? I think it is arranged there to build a platform of praise and thankfulness from which God’s word can be spoken and received. It isn’t about having a distinct time of musical worship and then an entirely separate, spoken word. Worship and word work together, a demonstration of our love and submission as a church family to the person of God and the instruction that he has for our lives.
In fact, it goes even further than that. Jesus said, “from the time I first came in”. The entirety of any church service is an extravagant act of worship that we are inviting people to join us in. From the moment a person arrives at church until the moment they leave, the parking team demonstrate love, the welcome team demonstrate love, the host team, the worship team, the preacher, the ministry team and the entire church family demonstrate love. And love is from God. As we demonstrate love toward one another, we are reflecting God himself. What greater act of worship is there?
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love! This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us….First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.”
— 1 John 4:7-19 (MSG translation)
Worship is never perfect, it’s always messy and we can never glorify Jesus to the extent that he deserves. Because we are only human. But we do the best that we can with what we have. It’s not about a formula, the words we use or the songs we sing, it’s always about Jesus. And when we worship with everything we have, giving our whole selves as a sacrifice to the God who loves us abundantly, then we will live in the freedom and abundance that is available through a life of extravagant worship.
Thank you God that if I will listen you will speak.
You are a good good father who loves me completely.
May I always hear your voice above all others.
And so we reach the end of this journey through the story of the woman with the Alabaster jar. It’s been a long-un but I hope an interesting one and I know I have learnt a lot. So I’ll leave you with this summary…
- There is strength in our sacrifice
- There is freedom when we overcome expectations
- There is promise in the dirt
- There is beauty in our best
- There is power in the silence
- There is humility in recognising our sin
- There is peace at His feet
- There is power in a lifestyle of extravagant worship
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