Matthew 22:34-38

January 13, 2019

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kid’s Korner.

The sermon starts at 14:25 in the audio file.

Or, The Great Commandment of Worship

We’re taking a break from our study through 1 Corinthians at the beginning of the year to talk about our worship and liturgy as a local body. When we get back to it, we’ll pick up in 1 Corinthians 14 in which Paul addresses the gift of tongues, one of the most highly esteemed spiritual gifts among the Corinthians as well as among modern day Charismatics. I’ve been wondering about a possible connection between two modern church problems.

In the (narrow) slice of the Evangelical pie our church falls into, that is, the more exegetical and Calvinistic and intellectual-speaking-gift esteeming slice, criticizing Charismatics is popular. I believe the criticisms are usually right according to God’s Word. The truth-lovers speak truth when seeking to correct pride and practice in many Charismatic expressions. I get that the criticisms are right, but again, why are the criticisms so popular? It’s not just the pastors and theologians speaking out, it’s church-goers of all kinds getting into fights with family and co-workers.

What I’m wondering is if the criticisms and arguments are a defensive maneuver. But what’s being defended is not the authority of God’s Word, that’s Bible is the wall we’re hiding behind. What is actually being defended is the apathy of our hearts. Perhaps what we’re really concerned about is not how the Charismatics are violating Scripture, what we’re really concerned about is protecting our violation of Scripture in our lack of love. It’s a popular criticism as a pretense of righteous protection.

This is not to say that Charismatics are good God-and-man lovers. The existence of 1 Corinthians 13, in between chapters 12 and 14, should be sufficient to prove that Christians can value showy spiritual gifts, such as those typically valued among Charismatics, with a focus on self rather than building up the church body in love. But at least the Charismatics look alive. At least they’ve got some energy. And by comparison, our hearts can look as skinny as the olive-skin pages in our thinline Bibles. But if we can attack others about some particulars we can poison the entire well about their practice. And if we can do that, we’ve bought ourselves some time before any one asks about us.

We are gathered as God’s people to praise Him, but He is not interested in our accurate but reluctant praise. The most precise liturgy is loathsome to Him if we are not offering it in thanksgiving (see Psalm 50). We are gathered to fellowship with God in His presence, which is not simply about our bodies being on time and our brains regurgitating data of His revelation. We assemble to worship God, and the great commandment of worship is for all of us to love Him with all of us. This is a numeric and a spiritual comprehensiveness, all parts of every heart, all parts of all our souls, all parts of all our minds.

This is not just the point of our liturgy, it is the point of God’s law. You remember the discussion Jesus had with a lawyer who was trying to test Him. Jesus had just finished telling the Sadducees that they were wrong about the resurrection and that they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matthew 22:23-33). Some of the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, so feeling good about themselves, “one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’” (Matthew 22:34-36).

The reason this was a “test” is because it’s an impossible question. Not only are there a lot of laws, there are almost as many sides who would argue for which is the most important law as there are actual laws. From the lawyer’s perspective, it didn’t matter[...]