After each church service, it's helpful to consider what we've learned in the past. Today on Truth for Life, we'll find out how genuine corporate worship blesses us individually, but also blesses the church and the community. Where in chapter 14 of Mark's Gospel, Alistair Begg is examining the story of the woman who was criticized for pouring an expensive jar of perfume on Jesus at Passover. The last thing I want you to note is that she made a lasting impression. Verse 9, I tell you the truth. Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.
Why? Because the Spirit of God recognized, as I said at the beginning, that the events that were up and public were not as significant as the events that were down and private. And that, of course, is so often the case. Did you follow what I have noted for you? She came prepared, she bore the cost, she endured the criticism, she was commended by Jesus, and she made a lasting memory. Now, what was the issue?
Well, the issue was partly in the fact of this brokenness. It was the radical way in which she went about these things, taking all that represented security to her, and all that represented a future for her, and all that had been part and parcel of her life for many a day. And she broke it in order that she might display her devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. This, loved ones, is where I am in my heart in these days in relation to the question of worship. And I am asking the Lord Jesus in these days to show me from the example, for example, of this lady, Lord Jesus, what does this actually mean for me? What will it mean for my pride to be broken?
What will it mean for the splintering of my natural reserve? What will it mean for the crushing of my selfish will? What will it take for me to be touched by this kind of fragrance so that the world will know that my life is a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ? And that's what I'm asking about corporate worship at Parkside Church.
It has very little to do with mode. It has everything to do with manner. It has everything to do with asking God to meet us where we are, and to save us from being those who are crying out in criticism, and to be prepared to be those who are not conformers but transformers, who are catalytic in the discovery of what it means for our lives to be unashamedly expressions of sacrificial praise. It's for that reason that we read from 2 Samuel and chapter 6, and I invite you to turn there with me. For there in 2 Samuel 6, you have another person, kind of losing it, as it were, for God's sake. And as a result of what he did, and as a result of the way in which he did it, he once again incurred this dreadful resentment. It's an interesting little story here for a number of reasons in 2 Samuel 6, but if you notice in verse 5, as they were going along with the ark, we're told that David and the whole house of Israel—notice this phrase—were celebrating with all their might before the Lord.
They were celebrating with all their might. Now, I know what it is to do something with all my might. And I know what it is to do something casually. And I know what it is to do something routinely.
And so do you. And the question is, what then will it mean for us as a congregation to follow this kind of pattern, irrespective of style or mode? Forget that. What will it mean for us to worship God with all our might? They did this before the Lord, verse 5 says, with songs, with harps, with liars, with tambourines, with cystrums, and with cymbals. In other words, they created an unbelievable cacophony of sound.
It was impossible for people to be marginalized by it. People heard it. They said, Something's going on.
And the worst that you could ever imagine. David was at the heart of it all. If only he hadn't been right in the middle of it, then it would have been a little easier to criticize it.
But actually, his involvement didn't affect the criticism unduly, as you will notice. And in verse 14, David wearing a linen ephod danced before the Lord. Notice, with all his might. Now, I call that dancing, don't you? There is dancing that's kind of like that, which cannot be called with all your might. And then there is dancing, which is with all your might. And people say, This guy is doing this with all his might.
Why? Well, he danced with all his might before the Lord. And they brought the ark of Israel up with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
Now, for those of us who love decorum, this is a major problem. Indeed, if you just read the Psalms and realize how many times it talks about shouting, you'll realize how we have baptized our Western mindset into the framework of our worship. Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that we engage in ferocious dancing and in dreadful shouting. But I am pointing out that there is a principle which is central to the expression, and the principle is with all our might. I mean, are you honestly singing with all your might, congregation?
Because if you are, we're gonna have to change with all our might to with all our might. I watch sometimes through the doors. I see your faces. Don't tell me you're singing with all your might. Let your house be filled with your glory, Lord. Let your house be filled with your praises, Lord.
How can you sing with all your might through your teeth? Some of you this morning didn't read the psalm as you were led in worship by Ron. I don't know why you didn't. Maybe you can't see, and so I apologize. But if you can, maybe you can't talk, and so I apologize. But if you can see and if you can talk, read the psalm! You understand?
Why? Because you came to worship. The leader of the worship said, We're gonna read a psalm, so we're gonna read a psalm. And how are we gonna read it? We're gonna read it with all our might. How are we gonna pray? With all our might. How are we gonna sing? With all our might. How are we gonna listen? With all our might. How are we gonna preach?
With all our might. So when the people come around, they say, You know what? It was the same kind of hymns, the same kind of songs, but these people are doing it with all their might. It's like they're into it. It's like they actually believe it.
It's like they don't care who sees them. It's as if you were at the jolly Jacobs Field, for goodness' sake! Can it possibly be that they can make a better noise in Seattle, singing about baseball, than the people of God can make singing about the redemption that is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ? So he gives them all a little sandwich to take home in verse 19.
Everybody gets a loaf, some dates, a cake of raisins, the person, everyone in the crowd, both men and women, they all go home. And now David's coming home. He is pumped!
We know he's pumped, because he'd been doing all his dancing and flying around. This guy is jazzed, and he is coming home, and he can't wait to see the family, see his wife, and he's gonna, you know, let her know, we've been having an unbelievable time bringing this ark up to Jerusalem. And when David returned home to bless his household—how was he gonna bless his household? He was gonna bless his household with the overflow of what was going on in his heart. That's how we bless one another—the enthusiasm of his joy in the Lord, the wonder of the presence of the Lord expressed in the ark, the privilege of being a part of all of that. He couldn't contain himself.
He was overflowing with it. And he arrives in his house, and he wants to gather up his household and tell them, you know, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. And he's met by his wife. And sardonically and sarcastically, she says to him, how the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would. When you're looking for a way to criticize somebody who's enthusiastic in worship, you'll find a way, believe me. And so she fastens on the fact that he hasn't got all of his clothes on. And she insinuates that the reason he doesn't have his clothes on is because he wants to appear before the servant girls who are around him.
She doesn't know that. And when we listen to undue criticism of others involved in genuine, forceful, with-all-my-might worship, loved ones, it grieves my heart to hear the kind of things that people say. It grieves my heart to read the kind of things that people write. We don't want that noisy praise choir up there, thank you very much, Alistair Begg. If you're going to have that, Alistair Begg, have it on Sunday evenings. It is totally inappropriate on Sunday mornings.
Why? If it's inappropriate on Sunday mornings, it's inappropriate on Sunday nights. If it's appropriate on Sunday nights, it's appropriate on Sunday mornings. It's totally inappropriate that only a third of the congregation comes back to worship on Sunday nights.
That's inappropriate. Loved ones. David wasn't doing a show for the girls. Loved ones. Nobody's planning on doing a show for you up here either.
Can you see inside people's hearts? And David said to Michal, It was before the Lord. I danced. I will celebrate before the Lord. And by the way, he says in verse 22, I will become even more undignified than this.
You think that was bad? Wait till I get going, he says. And I will be humiliated in my own eyes. In other words, I don't care what people think about me when I'm worshiping God.
But I'll tell you one thing, wife. The slave girls will hold me in honor, because they know what you are unprepared to see. They know that I was worshiping God, not performing for them. But because of your perverted perspective, you have assumed that what I was doing was according to another agenda and for another reason. You see, what is a fanatic in Christian terms? In Christian terms, a fanatic is just somebody who loves Jesus more than I do. A fanatic is usually somebody that makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
And so, instead of saying, You know what? That girl is really worshiping the Lord. That girl is really leading me in praise. That fellow is really helping me to worship. I can step aside from it by calling them a fanatic. And then, if you think about it, if you wanted something to be fanatical about, wouldn't it be bad to be fanatical about the worship of the Lord Jesus? And so the lady came and crushed the jar across the head of Christ.
And the assembled group rebuked her harshly. I don't know what it means for you. I don't even know what it means for me. I don't know what it means for us. But I do know this. That when the Spirit of God sets the people of God free in genuine, heartfelt worship, those who attend church will be caused to fall down and say, Surely God is in that place. And, loved ones, I've got to tell you, I believe we have every right in the world to expect that that would happen. As long as the Spirit of God is the Spirit of God, we have every right to assume that God would so move amongst us that the watching world would not be seduced by our clever singing, would not be entertained by our approach to worship.
I have no interest in reducing things to the lowest common denominator so that the people who wander off the streets will find it very acceptable. But rather, that as we're lost in wonder, love, and praise, the people will be caused to say, God is in that place. Because let's think about it. When we get to heaven, that's what we're gonna be doing. Singing.
Worshiping. Like crazy. And I'll tell you, time's going by.
So we better get these training sessions cranked up a little bit. Because if some of us died tonight and went into the presence of Jesus, we'd have been in for one unbelievable shock. Say, goodness gracious, I didn't know that this kind of stuff was going on up here.
Say, oh yeah, we've been doing this for ages. Don't you know these songs? Because if you think about it, they've got everybody from Martin Luther, Charles Wesley—they've got a whole gang up there. And if you think they're singing all Luther's songs, you're wrong. They've got Keith Green up there. Hallelujah!
Right? And I for sure know he's telling old Luther man, hey, back down on that stuff for a minute or two. We're gonna do some worship choruses here. And just see the gates of heaven ringing with Keith Green leading the whole host of heaven in the singing of, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Let the world think we're nuts, but let's at least give them a reason for believing we're nuts, rather than marching around with big banners and political campaigns. That's why we look to the Lord in prayer as we conclude. Let us pray. O Lord, we thank you for this lady. We thank you for ladies down through the years who've offered their lives to you as a living sacrifice.
And Lord, if we're honest, if I'm honest, I'm more naturally in the group criticizing her for her extravagance than helping her to break the jar of perfume. And we pray together tonight that you will save us from fleshly extravagances, from foolish preoccupations, from enthusiasm that is devoid of biblical truth, from biblical orthodoxy that is devoid of genuine enthusiasm. That you will save us from mindlessness. That you will prevent us from erring where your Word says that everything should be done decently and in order.
We ask that we may be spiritually alive, spiritually assisted, spiritually active, determining that wherever we are and whatever the opportunity when God's people gather in worship, we will give ourselves to it with all our might. For it is fitting that we might do so. We recognize, Lord, that our personalities are different. Some of us are far more extravagant. Some of us are far more outgoing. Others of us are far more introverted. Save those of us who are ebullient from criticizing the quiet.
Save the quiet from being put off by the extrovert. And help us, Lord, not only to join our hands but to have our hearts joined in a great celebration of your praise. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us, we pray, and break us and melt us and mold us and fill us. Prepare us, Lord, for heaven, as we adore you even now. And, Lord, we commit into your care one another tonight—our loved ones, some who are far from us, our friends. We pray that as we make our journey to our homes, those of us who live alone may know in a special sense your presence as we end this day. And grant, Lord, that into our heartache you may pour your balm, into our disappointment you may bring your encouragement, into our fearfulness that you might grant us strength. And now unto him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forevermore.
Amen. The book explores the importance of in-person fellowship and what God's Word says about coming together for worship. The author of the book is a local church pastor whose purpose in writing is not just to motivate us to make church attendance a priority, but to make the most of glorifying God while we're there. Gather is a foundational book that reminds us that Sunday worship isn't a duty, it's a privilege. Ask for your copy when you donate to Truth for Life today through the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate.
Or you can call us at 888-588-7884. By the way, this is a great book to share with your church's membership class. If you'd like to purchase extra copies, you'll find them in our online store while supplies last. The book is also a great gift to share with a friend who doesn't benefit from attending church regularly. The book is available for purchase at our cost of $5 at truthforlife.org slash store.
Thanks for listening. The Bible's instruction for worship seems simple enough. We're to be joyful, prayerful and thankful, yet it can be surprisingly challenging to apply these directives to our lives every day. Learn how it's possible when you join us tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
