The Master has so filled the vessel that it overflows. When the heart is filled with the truth, “as the truth is in Jesus,” and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it overflows in thanksgiving and praise — it worships God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. The heart of the guest, we may say, responds to the kindness of the host. But, plainly, that which comes down from God to the soul in grace, re-ascends from the soul to Him in grateful praise. Like the curling smoke from the golden altar, it ascends in the sweet odors of acceptable worship.
It is perfectly clear that a cup running over can hold no more; that which is poured in only increases its overflow. But what, may I ask, are the spiritual feelings of a soul that answers to this figure? They are heavenly in their character, and produced by the Holy Spirit. Nothing on earth comes so near the employment of heaven as worship. It will be our happy employment throughout eternity. But the soul must, in spirit, be in heaven — in the Holy of holies, before it reaches this condition, and that is where the Christian should always be. He is in Christ, and Christ fills all heaven with His glory. In God’s account there is no outer-court worship now; it must be priestly and inside the veil. When the heart of the worshipper answers to the overflowing cup, it is evidently completely filled up — not a corner is left empty. This is the main thought. It feels, spiritually, that every wish is met — every desire is satisfied, and all the longings of the soul perfectly answered. True, the worshipper is not yet in resurrection glory, but he knows and feels that he has everything excepting glory. That he waits for, but not uncertainly. “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Gal. 5:55For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Galatians 5:5).) The hope which properly belongs to righteousness is glory. We have the righteousness now, in Christ, we wait for the glory. And yet in another sense we have the glory too, as the Lord Himself says, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.” And even in a still closer way we may say that we have it now, according to what the apostle says to the Colossians; “Which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” Here it may be said that we are already linked with the glory. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” But we wait for the glory of God in full manifestation.
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.” 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 is 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 worshipper already in the land promised to the lathers, 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.” 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 uncle an 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.” And now in the hugeness 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.” 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 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 worshipped acceptably. It would be the most daring presumption for anyone to draw near to God as a worshipper, 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 worshipper 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 worshipper now stands without spot, and rejoices before the Lord His God.
Still meditate, Ο my soul, for the deepening and the elevating 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 all 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.
“Ο 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.”
Having briefly dwelt in our meditations on the only foundation of worship — the sacrifice of Christ: we will now refer to the only power of worship — the Holy Spirit. When “born again” we receive a new nature, which is holy and suited to the presence of God. It is also capable of enjoying Him, which truth surely gives us the highest thought of creature-happiness; and yet, as the apostle says, that blessed state may be enjoyed even now. “But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1111And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:11).) Without this new nature there could be no worship. It is the children that the Father seeks to worship Him. Sonship is essential to worship. But the Father delights in the worship of His children. Not only does He accept it, but He seeks it. Wondrous, gracious truth, Ο my soul, our God and Father staking worshippers I “ For the Father seeketh such to worship him.”
But, besides the accomplished work of redemption, the new birth, and our union with the risen Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit is indispensable to christian worship. Nothing can be plainer than our Lord’s own teaching to the woman of Samaria on this subject. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.” Here our Lord insists on the moral necessity of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in christian worship. And surely He knows best what suits the Father, from whose bosom He came, and even then He was “in the bosom of the Father.” (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18).) It is by the Spirit, though children of God, that we understand, enjoy, and worship Him. God being a Spirit, He must be worshipped in His own nature — “in Spirit.” A son is the same nature as his father.
As children, we are feeble and dependent, but we are “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” As children, we are ignorant and foolish, but the Holy Spirit communicates to us the mind of God, and gives us an understanding in divine things, so that we can draw near to Him in thought and feeling suited to His holy presence. It is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, that gives us the consciousness of our oneness with Christ, and our nearness to God. He is the seal of redemption, and the earnest of the inheritance. The anointing of the head with oil, is like “the unction” that we receive of God whereby we may know all things. (See 1 John 2:2020But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (1 John 2:20) Cor. 2:12.) And it is by the same Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, (Rom. 5:5,5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5)) which love, we may say, is the source of all our blessing, and the spring of all our worship. If, then, the Holy Spirit be thus absolutely necessary to the worship of Christians, surely it becomes a matter of first importance, that He should have His right place in the assemblies of the saints. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free: and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13).) How can are render to God the glory due unto His name, if the Spirit, by any means, be quenched, or practically displaced? This is a solemn question. Would not the contrast, so strongly drawn by the apostle, be in some way applicable in such a case? For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:33For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3).
Here, it is not the sin of the flesh, but the religion of the flesh, which the apostle warns against. In God’s sight the one is as bad as the other. The true worshippers are known by worshipping God in the Spirit, and rejoicing in Christ Jesus. The flesh can be very pious in its own way, and be largely occupied with good works; but it will never rejoice in Christ Jesus.” It knows nothing of Christ as despised on earth, and honored in heaven; nor of setting our affections on things above. But even when Christ has His right place in the heart, and the Holy Spirit owned as the alone power of worship, we have need to watch against mingling the thoughts of the flesh with the guidance of the Spirit. It will be the constant aim of the enemy, where he cannot substitute flesh for Spirit, to mingle the two.
One solemn question—one grand test, remains for each — for all. Dο I rejoice in Christ Jesus alone? This is the true standard to judge by the touchstone of spiritual worship. Answerest thou, Ο my soul, to this standard? Is Christ thy all in all? Comest thou before God — standest thou in His holy presence — rejoicing in Christ Jesus alone? He is the delight of the Father’s heart — the object of the Spirit’s testimony — the joy and glory of His people. Happy, thrice happy they, who, in this day of wide-spread fleshly pietism, “Worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
“Ο God, we come with singing, because Thy Great High Priest
Our names to Thee is bringing, nor e’er forgets the least:
For us He wears the miter, where ‘Holiness’ shines bright;
For us His robes are whiter than heaven’s unsullied light.”