WORSHIP IS ….
PSALM 96
There was a little boy riding in the car with his mother and they were just talking and having a good time together talking about just anything that came into their heads and the little boy asked his mother a question. He asked, how high have you ever counted before mom? Well the mom thought for a minute and said that she really couldn’t remember just counting before. Then she asked her son if he had ever counted just to see how much he could count. He said sure, all the time. She then asked well how high he had counted. He said 8,397. She asked how he could remember that so well. He said that it was easy because that’s when church was over.
. In survey after survey about why people don’t go to church, the number one reason they give is that church is boring.
. Have you ever heard of oxymoron’s ? they are phrases or words that when you put them together they seem to contradict each other.
. Let me give you some examples.
. Jumbo Shrimp, Plastic Silverware, Extended Deadline, Doubting Believers, Honest Crook, Free With Purchase, Gourmet Hamburger, Evaporated Milk.
. All of those words when used together contradict one another.
. This morning, I want to share one more oxymoron with you.
. Boring worship.
. Folks, true worship is any thing but boring.
. The very essence of what worship is does not allow us to be bored if we come before the Lord to truly worship.
. When we come before the God of the universe and accept who He is then we can’t help but worship Him.
. Many come to a worship service expecting to be led to worship instead of coming with a heart of gratitude and love for God that automatically and perpetually has them in a state of worship .
. We should be coming to publicly express what they have been doing all week long.
. When we come together in the sanctuarary we are here to publicly proclaim our love and adoration for God.
. It seems that over the past 20 years or so there has been many issues with the way churches conduct their worship services.
. There have been more church break ups and splits in what has been termed worship wars.
. Why are we singing this type of song or why do we do this or why do we do that . This is different and I don’t like it.
. If truth be known, most of these wars are started with the word I. It’s all about me and what I want or what I prefer.
. This morning, lets look at what king David wrote about worship.
. psalm 96
. 1Sing a new song to the LORD!
Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!
2Sing to the LORD; praise his name.
Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
3Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
4Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!
He is to be feared above all gods.
5The gods of other nations are mere idols,
but the LORD made the heavens!
6Honor and majesty surround him;
strength and beauty fill his sanctuary.
7O nations of the world, recognize the LORD;
recognize that the LORD is glorious and strong.
8Give to the LORD the glory he deserves!
Bring your offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor.
Let all the earth tremble before him.
10Tell all the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
He will judge all peoples fairly.
11Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
13before the LORD, for he is coming!
He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with his truth.
. The first thing that we see here is that we are to EXALT HIS NAME.
. Vs 1-2a say: 1Sing a new song to the LORD!
Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!
2Sing to the LORD; praise his name.
. Notice here that we are encouraged to sing three times here in these first two verses..
. Singing and music has always been a way of rejoicing and exalting and worshipping God.
. Since the creation, singing has been a part of worshiping God.
. In Job 38 4-7 we see this. God is talking to Job and He says: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
6What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
7as the morning stars sang together
and all the iangels shouted for joy?
. God says that the angels were singing and shouting for joy at His creation.
. The world was created with joyful singing and shouting in the background .
. We continue to worship through song today.
. Notice that the Psalm says to sing a new song to the Lord.
.This word can mean brand new but it can also mean something that is precious or exquisite or delightful.
. This doesn’t mean that every time we are together that we are to come up with a new song for worship.
. It also doesn’t mean that we are to sing the same songs over and over again to the Lord.
. Our service last Sunday was a perfect example of singing these new and exquisite songs to the Lord.
. We sang How Great Thou Art. How can you hear and understand and sing the words to this song and not worship.
. O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed. When we see this our soul will sing how great thou art.
. Then we sang Lord I Lift your Name On High. Listen to these words.
. Lord I lift your name on high. Lord I love to sing your praises. I’m so glad you’re in my life. I’m so glad you came to save me.
Then it tells the gospel message.
. You came from Heaven to earth. To show the way. From the erarth to the cross. My debt to pay. From the cross to the grave from the grave to the sky Lord I lift your name on high.
. How can anyone hear or sing this song and not worship the one that we are singing about.
. As churches evolve and minister in our world today. We are to sing a new song to worship Him.
. God wants our worship to be fresh and exquisite.
. We do that by singing a new song to the Lord.
. Not only are we to Exalt His Name, we are also to Explain His Greatness.
. The second part of verse 2 through verse 7 tell us this.
. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
3Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
4Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!
He is to be feared above all gods.
5The gods of other nations are mere idols,
but the LORD made the heavens!
6Honor and majesty surround him;
strength and beauty fill his sanctuary.
7O nations of the world, recognize the LORD;
recognize that the LORD is glorious and strong.
. When we teach through Sunday school and through the sermon, we are explaining His Greatness.
. When we get together on wed. night and study His word and teach the children in our wings program we are explaining His greatness.
. When the children of Israel were gathered together after the exile. We are told in Nehemiah 8:8 that: 8They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage.
. They opened the word and explained the greatness of God.
. I was talking to a guy one day and he told me that he had been on a hunting trip out west and that the guide asked them if they wanted to go to church with him. This guy did. He told me that throughout the whole service, the bible was not read, quoted or even talked about during the whole service. He said he left there wondering how these people could say that they were worshipping a God that they don’t even mention.
. The greatness of God must be explained and proclaimed in our worship services.
. In 2 timothy Paul urges Timothy to “ preach the word “because people will come and start preaching and teaching just what people want to hear. Not what God’s word says.
. In true worship of God, we must open His word and Explain His Greatness.
. Next we see that in order to truly worship we must Express Our Love for Him through Our Offerings
. We see this here in verse 8: 8Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his courts.
. There was a preacher that had been asked to come and fill in for a pastor one Sunday. He took his 8 year old son with him. They went into the church and at the table in the foyer as they walked into the church there was a box with a slit in the top and a sign that just said alms. Well the preacher pulled out a twenty dollar bill and put it into the box and they went on into the church. The preacher preached his sermon and got all the accolades that a visiting preacher usually gets about how much the people enjoyed the sermon. As they were walking out the door, the chairman of the budget committee caught him and said preacher, we usually give a visiting preacher the money that is here in the alms box. He opened the box and there was a lone twenty dollar bill in the box. He gave the preacher the twenty and thanked him again for the great sermon that he had preached. In the car on the way home, the little boy looked at his dad and said; You know dad, if we had put more into the box we would have gotten more out.
. This is the health and wealth part of the sermon this morning.
. Folks you get out of worship what you put into it.
. When we bring our spiritual gifts and talents that the Lord has bestowed upon us and give them to Him as an offering.
. When we teach Sunday school, when we lead worship, when we use our voices to exalt him. When we do offer the finances that He has blessed us with. When we surrender our lives to Him and offer what we have to Him, then we are worshipping.
. What will happen then is that God will bless us with a healthy thriving church that is in His will and He will pour out all the wealth of the Holy Spirit upon us to empower us to further His kingdom
. That’s how offerings will give us as a people and a church, health and wealth.
. Your offerings to God are much more than your money.
. God wants all of you.
. God wants us to bring our offerings into His courts.
. When we realize that, then we can truly worship God.
. In verses 9-13 we see our final point this morning.
. In our worship, we are to Extend His Invitation
. 9Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor.
Let all the earth tremble before him.
10Tell all the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
He will judge all peoples fairly.
11Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
13before the LORD, for he is coming!
He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with his truth.
. We are to tell everyone that He is coming and extend His invitation to accept Him for who He is.
. He is coming to judge the nations and all will one day acknowledge who He is.
. The invitation has been eliminated in many churches today.
. The rationale is that people don’t want to be pressured or that some are timid. I can understand that.
. Jesus said, and I paraphrase, that if we won’t acknowledge Him before men, the He will not acknowledge us before the father.
. We are called to extend His invitation to all men.
. In 2 peter 3:9 peter writes that the Lord does not want any to perish but for all men to come to repentance.
. Part of our worship must be to invite any who haven’t accepted the invitation of Jesus to come to Him for salvation.
. Invitation.
SOURCES
The Church Awakening, Charles Swindoll
The Imperatives of Worship, Brian Bill, sermon central
The Holy Bible NLT
