 All right, let's pray and we'll get started. Holy Spirit, we welcome you. We love you in this place. We thank you, we honor you. You're wonderful, magnificent, beautiful, glorious, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God. You are, we honor you in this place. So Father, I thank you for your presence. That is with us, no matter where we are, present with all of us. Lord, even as we lean in once again into your word to learn from your word, Holy Spirit, breathe your breath over us, breathe your breath over your word. Let it bring to life every dead thing, every forgotten promise, every dead dream. Let it come back to life, I pray. Well, I pray that you will birth another hunger and a thirst like never before to worship you, to honor you, like you alone deserve it, Father. So in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. All right, so in this class and this today's session we'll learn about, we'll continue in chapter 6 on becoming a worshipper. Okay, becoming a worshipper. So in the previous class, just to do a very quick recap, we spoke about spiritual worship versus fleshly worship, right? Or, and then we concluded by talking about idolatry, idol worship and the dangers of idol worship. Isn't it? So that's what we discussed. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us worship in spirit and in truth. And the opposite of worshiping in truth is false worship. And so we looked at many scriptures quite in depth. But today we'll look at just one example without turning a lot of pages. We'll look at one example of extravagant worship, an example of an extravagant worshipper. So what is the meaning of the word extravagant in your own words? Out of ordinary. Out of ordinary, okay. Out of ordinary, okay. Thank you. What else? Anybody else would like to share? Please feel free to unmute and speak. Extravagant is an action that is expressing yourself without any restraint, like without anything holding you back. Another example will be, let's say he or she spends extravagantly, meaning if someone goes shopping, they'll start buying everything, anything beyond their budget without control. You get it, right? That's extravagant as well. So he's so extravagant in his shopping. He just buys things without any control. And it's an action that is expressed without any restraint. Okay, I hope we kind of got that. So thank you, Rich, Grand, different. Yep, okay. So what we're going to look at today is an example of an extravagant worshipper. In other words, that a person who expressed worship without any restraints, who did not hold back in expressing. Okay, so that's what we're going to look at. Let us all turn to Luke chapter 7. In your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 7. We're going to start reading from verse 36. Luke chapter 7 verse 36 onwards. Okay, yeah. All right, thank you. So here we go. This is what it says. Luke chapter 7 verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. And he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Verse 39. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is. Who is touching him? For she is a sinner. Okay, let's pause before we continue. We can read that whole chapter and it's just absolutely beautiful. So let's stop. To give a backdrop of this chapter, we are reading from the Gospel of Luke. And from verse 36 onwards, we don't know who this Pharisee is. We can dig deeper and study. But it says in verse 36, then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. And Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. Okay, so what's happening is in their culture, in the Jewish culture, if a rabbi, a teacher of the law, came to a town or a village, and if someone is hosting the rabbi, they will have something called the open house. Open house means the person who is hosting the rabbi or a teacher or a prophet, their house would be open to the entire village. So anybody from the town in that village can come to their home. And this is a very great grand event apparently because a rabbi is coming, a Pharisee is invited. And in this scenario, it happens to be Jesus who is invited. And so the word has spread across the village saying, okay, there's this rabbi called Jesus coming. There's this rabbi called Jesus coming. And so the word has spread. The house is open to all the neighbors, everyone. So everybody is living there. There are a lot of people in the living room and whatnot. And so Jesus comes and he sits at the table. Now, again, once again in their culture, they don't sit like how you and I are sitting, like on a chair, on a table. Nice, no. I'm not sure if you've been to an Arabian Arabic restaurant. We have quite a few Arabic restaurant, authentic ones in Bangalore. Some of them have these, where you sit on the floor and you recline like this. So you actually sit on the floor on a bed and the food plate will be kept down on a mat. And so you recline, your legs will be, hope you get what I'm saying. So that's how you recline. And one person, so if I'm here, another person in a very similar posture would be behind me here. And so if I have to talk to the person, I just have to turn my face and the person would be behind me and you can speak. So that was the setting in how they would dine. The guests would rest. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. It was a very relaxed posture as well. Okay, they're just going to sit and chill and have some bread and cheese. So probably some wine. So that's what's happening. And then here we see the story in verse 37, unfolding and behold a woman in the city who was a sinner. Okay, let's stop again there. Now, the translation by now has become very diplomatic. diplomatic means it's being very nice. So she's a woman who is a sinful woman who is a sinner, but a more stronger translations will say an adulterous woman. But in all rawness. Okay, let's take off the veil of hiding behind this thing of, say, oh, Christian. But what it's actually saying is that she was an adulterous woman, which in other words means prostitute. Bible college class. How can I mention those words? What are you teaching us pastor? Well, it's what it is. You have a problem with that. We have to learn to deal with it. Bible doesn't hide anything. Bible has never hidden anything from the beginning. It states what it is. An adulterous woman, a woman who did not have a very good reputation in the village. Everyone in that village knew who she was and what she did for a living. Everyone in that village in the town knew who this woman was and what she did for a living. Now, can you imagine the heart rate of this woman? Let's put ourselves in her shoes. Okay, just imagine. Can you imagine with me? Is that okay? Yeah, will you imagine with me? Just go on this small little journey if we can. Imagine comes from the word image. Magi. Magi, magic. All of that comes from the word imagine. Imagination is one of the most powerful tools God has given to us. Magi from the East. We see that in Matthew, right? So imagination, image, magic. So let's go on this journey of imagination. Okay, let's put ourselves in her shoes. Thumbs up. Okay. So I've heard, we've heard that Jesus is coming to town and he is there in this person's house and this person is not an ordinary person. This person is a Pharisee. He's a scribe. He works in the temple. He's a priest. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they are not ordinary people. They have had a certain esteem in the society. So Jesus is in the house of a Pharisee, but I want to go meet him. I know I am a sinner. I know I have lived a sinful life. I am unholy. I am unclean. I am not worthy, but I am broken on the inside. I want healing. I want to meet that man. Her heart is racing. It's beating really fast. What do I do? What do I do? Should I go? Should I not? Should I go? Should I not? Should I not? And finally she makes up her mind. She takes an alabaster jar with her and she starts walking. Probably sweating. Her heart is filled with anxiety. She's stressed. She might be stressed. She's got a head down. That's like the walk of shame, isn't it? Because she knows everybody in the town knows who she is, what she does for a living. But there she is. She's taking the jar of oil and she's walking. And then she comes to the house. She stands at the entrance of the door. And as she's standing at the entrance of the door, she steps into the house. You can imagine that everybody was having a nice laugh, talking loudly. The hall must have been loud with everybody chit-chatting. And as soon as she stepped in, the whole room goes quiet. And after some time they start murmuring, what is she doing here? What is she doing here? How can she be here? How can she be here? What is she doing here? What is she doing here? And she can hear all these murmuring. She hears, okay, and she knows that everybody there is talking about her. All of them could recognize her because they knew who she was, what she did. And probably if she lifted up her head and saw the room, she could also recognize a few men. Maybe they've been with her. Maybe they would have been with her. You get what I'm saying, right? I mean, all of these details are not in the Bible, guys. You know, but imagine, okay, it's not some walk in the park kind of situation that is happening here. But she can hear all these voices. Don't you know who you are? Don't you know what you did? Don't you know where you come from? How dare you be here? Don't you know your worth? You are worthless. You have no worth. You should be ashamed of yourself. All these voices that we hear sometimes, right? She heard. But all she could do was have a laser focus. All mattered for her was Jesus. She could only see Jesus in the room and did not care. She didn't care who was in the room. She didn't care how many men were in the room. All she could see was Jesus. She goes straight to him. Then it says in verse 37, she stood. She knew that Jesus sat at the table, brought an alabaster jar of fragrant oil, verse 38, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. So this is version of the story mentioned in all the Gospels. If for your reference, you can read it. John 12 verse 1 to 7, that's one reference. John chapter 12 verse 1 to 7. Mark chapter 14 verse 3 to 9. Mark chapter 14 verse 3 to 9. And Matthew chapter 26 verse 7 onwards. Matthew chapter 26 verse 7 onwards, okay? Once again, John chapter 12 verse 1 to 7. Mark 14 verse 3 to 9. And finally, Matthew chapter 26 verse 7. We'll all have different accounts of the similar story. Gospels are beautiful. We only say the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Like it's just some random names. But we forget that they were human beings like you and me. They were actual person, right? Like four different individuals had their own way of saying a story, saying a narrative. And Luke was very different. He would give information of a woman when it is necessary to honor her and hide the information of a woman which was unnecessary. In this case, you see, he's hiding the identity of a woman to protect her. But at the same time to honor, you know, when you read through the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, he brings it from the line of Mary to honor her. And the same way Luke, the Gospel of Luke honors women very differently. And it's the same thing with all the other Gospels as well. They have their own way of expressing narrative. You know, it's beautiful. But okay, let's just come back to this. So when you read the other accounts, right? Of the similar story. Same for Matthew or Mark. It says she brought the alabaster jar and she broke it. She broke the alabaster jar. Now what's the significant part about it? You know, I don't have a bottle here. Okay. So okay, don't laugh. Okay. I'm going to use my son's toys on the table. I did not know how it landed up here, but it's your don't laugh. Okay. So let's imagine this is a bottle. Okay. So no. Now, if I'm just pouring, I still have control over how much I want to pour. Right. I can pour, you know, little by little, you know, not everything. But if I break it, I have no control over how much I want to give. Are you with me? And so when the gospel says that she broke the alabaster jar, she was saying that she wants, she's saying that you are worthy of it all. I don't want to contain it. Another significant part about that oil, that fragrant oil is the prostitutes in that culture in those days would use that fragrance to seduce men, to allure men into them. Okay. And one more interesting fact about this, the perfume those days, it was very expensive. The gospel says, the account says it was worth one year's wages, one year's salary. Okay, we'll get to that in just a minute. Another interesting fact about that perfume was it was exported. That means it was imported by Israel. And it was exported from Nepal and India. So at the foothills of Himalayas, there are these pink flowers. And so those flowers would be crushed to extract these fragrant oil and put in a jar and then export it. And so that's why it was expensive. And then it was also used to allure men by prostitutes. So what she was doing is that she was going to Him and saying, I'm breaking this at your feet because I don't want to have any control over my old life. I'm surrendering it all. I'm giving you my past. I'm giving you my everything. And so she leaves it all at His feet. So she breaks it at His feet. She wipes His feet with her hair and she begins to go away. Another interesting point that's mentioned in this account is that it talks about her tears. Why is her tears mentioned? Why does it say that she stood at His feet weeping? There's a psalm that says He collects our tears in a bottle. You know that, right? The Bible says He collects our tears in a bottle. What's so special about our tears? Bywood had to be mentioned here that she stood at His feet weeping. She wiped His feet with her tears. You see, the beauty of tears is, you know, in the book of Revelation it says, there is coming a day where there will be no shame, no pain, no tears when we are with our Lord in heaven. No shame, no pain, no tears. So when we worship Jesus, when we choose to worship Jesus in our pain and with our tears, we are giving something to Jesus here on earth what we cannot give Him in heaven. Understand, understood. When we worship, when we make the choice to worship Jesus in our pain and in our fears, we are giving Him something that we cannot give Him in heaven. And that becomes very special, more special than the worship of the angels. God is surrounded by the best worship ever in the heavens, by the seraphim and the cherubim. But then He still leans in to our worship, our brokenness in worship. Okay, let's move on. Verse 39, now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, He spoke to Himself. That means He said to Himself, if only this man knew if he were a prophet, he would know who this woman is, what kind of a woman she is. And Jesus answered and said to Him, Simon, I have something to say to you. When Jesus says that He has something to say to you, you better pay attention, right? So Simon says, teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500 dinari and other 50. And when they had nothing with each to repay, He freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love Him more? Verse 43, Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom He forgave more. And He said to Him, you have rightly judged. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this. Look at those words, okay? Listen, read very carefully. It says, He turned to the woman and said to Simon. So He's looking at the woman, but He's talking to Simon. Imagine guys, it must have just been quite a scene. Have you ever done that? You're looking at one person, but you're talking to someone else. You're just sending a message kind of a thing. So He turned to the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then He said to her, your sins are forgiven. Okay. Are you guys okay? Are you doing all right? Alive, right? Okay. Cool. Okay. So again, what's happening? So Jesus narrates a story, an example like a parable like He always did. Like they always did in that culture. He gives an example of two people who owed money to a person. And then He asks, who would love more? And then Simon the Pharisee says, the one who was forgiven much. That means the one who had to repay more would love much because he was forgiven freely. And Jesus looks at the woman and he's talking to Simon by saying, I came to your house. Again, once again, it's very important to know that in their culture, any guest who came home, the first thing you would do is you would give them water to wash their hands and their feet. Unlike today, they wouldn't have Reebok or Nike shoes, fancy shoes to wear and come. They wore sandals, simple people. And the roads were pretty dusty, they would have walked quite a long distance. And so their hands would be dirty, their feet would be dirty. First thing that the host of the house would give the guest is water to wash their hands and their feet. And then they would welcome them with a kiss. After they've welcomed them with a kiss, they would anoint their hand with this fragrant, you know, one of the fragrant oils, just a drop of it. It was their culture. And Jesus is saying all of this, you invited me. You know about our culture and yet you did not do anything about it. You didn't give me water to wash my hands or my feet. You didn't greet me with a kiss. You didn't anoint me. But yet this woman does. And so Jesus looked at her and says, her many sins are forgiven. Verse 47. Luke chapter 7 verse 47 says, therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven. So again, he's saying, he's telling this to Simon. He's saying, therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. For she loved much. And then he said to her in verse 48, your sins are forgiven. Okay. Now you tell me, I think we've read at least 12 verses from Luke chapter 7 verse 36 to 47 or 48. About 12 verses, right? I think so. Okay, question for us. Has this woman spoken a single word? Has this woman said a single word? Nope, she didn't. She didn't come pray. Lord bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me. Lord help me, help me, help me, help me. Lord forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. She doesn't say a single word. She doesn't pray. She doesn't even ask for forgiveness. She didn't even come asking for forgiveness. All she did was she came. it didn't matter who was in the room, all that mattered to her was Jesus. That I am going to love Him like no other person. I'm going to give my all. I'm going to surrender my all. And this act of worship was very scary to people around because they didn't think that it was worship. And so here's the thing. What happens when you see an expression of worship you've never seen before is you will begin to judge it. I'll say that again. When you see an expression of worship which you've never seen before, you will be scared and you will begin to judge. How is this possible? Can you really do that? That's exactly what was happening at this time in this Bible. Nobody had ever seen an act of worship like that before. And so they were all taken aback. What is happening here? I don't understand this. So she doesn't even make a prayer. She doesn't even cry for forgiveness. All she does is she comes and she pours her love on Jesus. She anoints his head, his feet with the oil with the tears. She wipes his feet with her hair. Again, in their culture, it was not right for women to let their hair down, undignified. She lets her hair down and she wipes his feet with her hair. And then again, just begin to imagine with me. She was there. She did what she came to do. And now she's slowly walking back. She's slowly walking back. She's collecting the pieces of the jars. Maybe she's walking back with again her head down with tears in her eyes. And I'd like to imagine or think that suddenly someone in the room must have asked this question. Hey, is that fragrance, that beautiful smell? Is that fragrance coming from the feet of Jesus? Or is it coming from her hair? Is that fragrance coming from the feet of Jesus? Or is it coming from her hair? I'm just thinking, you know, someone in the room must have asked that question. You know, maybe not. But they must have thought about it. I surely would have. But the point is this. She came in a different person. She went back smelling like the way Jesus would smell. That means the whole room, everybody in the room knew that she was in a very close space with Jesus. That she had worshiped him very intimately. And that's the point here, everyone, is that when you have worshiped Jesus so intimately, every person around you will know that you have been with Jesus because you will be carrying the fragrance of Jesus. Paul writes in Corinthians that Jesus is the fragrant one. He writes, yeah, in the Corinthians that he is the fragrant one. And that means when you have spent that intimate time of worship with Jesus, who you are, what you've done, your past, your sins are all wiped away and you begin to smell like him. You begin to carry the fragrance of the fragrant one. And that is the beauty of being an extravagant worshiper is that we don't go to worship Jesus so I can get a breakthrough. I can get some more money. I can get a healing. All of that is great. We need all of that. But an extravagant worshiper will go to Jesus simply because he is worthy. If this woman had a million alabaster jars, I'm sure she would still break all of it because Jesus is worth it. Are you with me? The Bible says that oil was one year's wages, isn't it? Yes, one year's salary. How did she earn that salary? So I think I'll pause here. I just want to encourage us all. There's so many things that we can take away from her life. Jesus in another Gospel, and I think in Matthew, he says, what she has done will be remembered, will be spoken of in memory of her. What she has done will be spoken or remembered in memory of her. That means when Jesus is saying that... Jesus is saying he wanted her to be remembered. I mean, hold on. Jesus, all your disciples, your apostles are going to die for you and they all died for Jesus. From James to Peter, John, all of them died for Jesus. Are you saying that beyond all of them, what they did for you, what they're going to do for you, that she will be remembered? You've got to think about it, isn't it? And an act of an extravagant worshiper will be remembered forever. An act of an extravagant worshiper will resonate in the heavens forever. It will be spoken of forever. And so I want to encourage each and every one of us who's listening. I want to urge you to be an extravagant worshiper. There is a beauty in just letting it all go. And say, Lord, I give you control. I come just as I am. I don't understand a lot of things that I'm going through, but yet you are still worthy. I'm going to give you my all. I'm going to surrender my all because I know that you are bigger than the biggest step of faith I will ever take. Right? And so with that, I'll conclude today's lesson and I hope there was something that you could take away and that encourages you to be an extravagant worshiper. Meditate on these scriptures when you can. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you, reveal to you, teach you to be this extravagant worshiper. All right? Fantastic. Well, thank you all for joining in. God bless you. I'll see you all next week. See you.