VERSE 5 (CONTINUED)
It may be well to notice the difference between prayer and worship, however nearly allied they may be to each other, and even suitably mingled together, as "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks." 1 Tim. 2:11I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (1 Timothy 2:1). We have always much to be thankful for; still, the two things in themselves are quite distinct. We bring our empty cups to the prayer meeting, and beg and beseech our God and Father to fill them. This shows our knowledge of God and our confidence in Him; and if we pray in faith, the oil may flow until every vessel be filled. (2 Kings 4.) Thus prayer may lead to worship, as preaching the gospel to the world and teaching God's people may do. Nevertheless, it is well to understand the difference between prayer, preaching, teaching and worship. They are each most important in themselves, and all of God, and ought not to be confounded. In the preaching of the gospel God is addressing the world; in teaching, He is speaking to His saints; but in worship we address God, we render adoration to Him. Ministry is from God to man, worship is from man to God. Hardly any two things could be more distinct, and yet the distinction is rarely seen. True worship may be produced by any of the three named services, and even a spirit of worship may be enjoyed when engaged in them, and so much the better when it is so; but in Christian worship we draw near to God as our Father in Christ Jesus and address ourselves to Him. When we know God as He has revealed Himself in the Person and work of Christ, we have holy liberty in His presence and render the praise, adoration and thanksgiving of an overflowing heart.
The term "cup" is frequently and variously used in Scripture: sometimes it is the symbol of joy and sometimes of sorrow, but in the verse before us the "cup running over" is the expression of overflowing joy and is in full harmony with the position of the anointed believer. The table which Jehovah had prepared for His weary pilgrim more than supplied all his need. Nothing was wanting. The provision was full and divinely suited to his condition. There was no need to remind the Host of something that had been forgotten. Asking for this or for that at such a table would be contrary to every feeling of the satisfied guest: unless it were, in heart, for more gratitude, more suited thanksgiving. Ought we not to be filled with this spirit when at the Lord's Supper? Most surely, and in the highest sense. May we not, at least, say that in this beautiful verse we have an illustration of the Lord's supper, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the worship of the assembly of God? Surely we may; for the idea of worship is more in connection with the assembly than with a single Christian. The joy of others increases our joy and strengthens our worship.
This truth is so beautifully and touchingly set before us in Deut. 26 that we must notice it. The worshiper, already in the land promised to the fathers, brings his basket of first fruits—the growth of the holy land—and the priest presents it before the Lord his God. He worships in the land and only presents to Jehovah the fruits of the land. Canaan is the type of heaven, and we can only worship God when there, in spirit, and with the growth of that happy land. Love, joy, holiness, praise, adoration and thanksgiving grow abundantly in our heavenly Canaan. But the joy of the redeemed Israelite in the land was shared with others. He did not forget his own, once miserable condition in the land of Egypt, though now redeemed out of it. "A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt." Deut. 26:55And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: (Deuteronomy 26:5). In his new joy he invites the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow to share his abundance. But this was not all; he maintained a walk of practical holiness, without which there can be no worship. "I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me." Deut. 26:1414I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. (Deuteronomy 26:14). And now, in the largeness of his heart, he embraces all Israel. "Look down from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou hast given us, as Thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey." Deut. 26:1515Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. (Deuteronomy 26:15). True benevolence, largeness of heart, is sure to accompany a spirit of heavenly worship. "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb. 13:15-1615By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:15‑16).
The sacrifice of Christ, which is commemorated in the breaking of bread, is the only foundation of true worship; and the Holy Spirit, present in the assembly, is the alone power by which God can be worshiped acceptably. It would be the most daring presumption for anyone to draw near to God as a worshiper unless he knew that all his guilt was removed and that he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. But when we know that the blessed Lord, by the blood of His cross, has fully glorified God, blotted out all our sins and cleansed us from all defilement, we have holy boldness to draw near to God as our Father. But for the cross, all must be judgment; but by means of the cross, all is grace, boundless grace. The rending of the veil from the top to the bottom is the divine witness to us that Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and opened up the way for us into the holiest of all. In virtue of His atoning sacrifice there is now, glory be to God, no question of sin between the worshiper and God. That question was fully gone into on the cross and there settled—there closed forever. The same stroke which slew the Lamb rent the veil and laid open the way into the presence of infinite holiness, where the worshiper now stands without spot and rejoices before the Lord his God.
Still meditate, O my soul, for the deepening and the elevation of thy worship, on that wondrous cross-the great center of God's moral universe! To this center God ever pointed, and the eye of faith ever looked forward, until the Savior came. And now we must ever turn to that cross as the center of all our blessing and the basis of all our worship, both on earth and in heaven-in time and throughout eternity. The "new song" never could have been sung in heaven, and no hymn of praise could ever have been sung on earth by fallen man, but for the cross of Jesus; and, but for that same cross, ours must have been forever a cup of trembling in place of an overflowing cup of rejoicing.
“O what a debt I owe
To Him who shed His blood,
And cleansed my soul, and gave me power
To stand before His God.
“Savior and Lord! I own
The riches of Thy grace;
For I can call Thy God, my God—
Can bow before His face.
“Thy heavenly Father, too,
I worship as my own,
Who gave with Thee the Spirit's cry,
To me, a son foreknown.”