Sermon on Worship – Psalm 96:1-9, Hebrews 13:15
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
May 6, 2007
Text: Psalm 96:1-9; Hebrews 13:15
1 Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Introduction
If I were to ask you to write down what you thought the most important thing our church has to do, what might you say?
- increase the number of people in church?
- decrease the average age of those attending?
- bring in more money?
- finish the drywalling?
All of the above may be worthy pursuits, for different reasons,
but they pale in comparison to the activities of the church that must rest at the core of what we do and who we are.
I am convinced that there are four vital functions that every church, every Christian ministry, must seek to make paramount.
I didn’t come up with that phrase, “the four vital functions”,
but the more I cam to understand them the more I see them
as representing the essence of our service to our Saviour.
The first of these four vital functions is worship, which we shall look at today.
Some “data” on worship
Sing, Praise, (bless)
Proclaim (p. good news, Declare (tell),
Ascribe (give credit to), bring an offering,
come into his courts, Offer,
Tremble, Confess
NIV – search for occurrences of term and derivatives
praise* 406x
worship* 256x
honor* 223x
exalt* 102x
revere* 40x
glorify,ies,ied 38x
extol* 11x
acclaim 2x
1078x
All that said, what is worship?
WORSHIP, as I understand, it includes activity which is focused on the direct praise and affirmation of God.
It is not getting something out of God, or bribing him with flattery, or looking for a “spiritual fix” to liven an otherwise dull day;
it is our hearts, mouths, souls and bodies telling God directly that he is great and good and worthy of our deepest respect, love-based fear and complete devotion.
worship = “to kiss towards”,
as in prostrating one’s self before an idol and kissing the ground at it’s feet.
Notice the first four words in the Psalm we’ve read - “Sing to the lord”
Not “about” the Lord, it reads “sing TO the Lord”,
and that makes all the difference.
Anyone can prattle on about God until they are blue in the face, myself included, but worship turns our eyes and voices upwards in utter love for our Saviour and deepest devotion to our God.
Head and Heart
Worship come from our hearts –
if it comes from anywhere else it simply is not worship.
But it is defined and refined by our heads –
we never abandon reason or drain our brain to worship –
Jesus himself tells us to keep our heads in it by worshiping “in spirit and truth”
Our ability to reason, to learn truth, can even lead us into a deeper appreciation for who God is as we learn more about him.
But our heads must make a connection with our hearts for us to truly reach the place where we proclaim our love for God out loud!
Our worship does not have to give us a “liver-quiver” every time we sing or speak our praise. To express emotion during worship is perfectly acceptable, but that does not make our emotions worship either.
We don’t need to shed a tear or burst a vein laughing every time we worship, but we do need to be free to express emotion if and when it comes.
If a song hit us just where God wants us to be hit, and it triggers a tear,
let it flow.
If a poem gladdens our heart is praise of our Saviour, we should express that joy as we are comfortable.
Worship takes our knowledge of God and love for him and expresses it – the form of expression is entirely up to us.
Now that we’ve talked about what worship is, let’s take a look at some of the different types of worship we can participate in.
Types of worship
Music and singing are important parts of worship, yet they are essentially "forms" which facilitate worship. Drama, poetry, prose and other forms are also of value.
1. Dance:
- it is thought that the psalm we read at the beginning, psalm 96, was one of those proclaimed as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem for the first time
- this was the King’s reaction to the Ark’s arrival
2 Samuel 6:12-15
12 Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
- this passage is not promoting dance for the sake of dance; it is showing us that worship can be a physical as well as a verbal action
- banners, ribbons, hand clapping, arm raising, interpretative dance – there are many physical ways to express our worship for God
2. Music (no singing mentioned) - Psalm 150-3-5
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
- the temple was one noisy place!
- people would dedicate their lives to playing in the temple choir, they worshipped God in their devotion to their craft
3. Prose (not to be sung)
Genesis One –
- description of creation of the world
- makes for an unwieldy song,
- but read aloud, it is a tribute to God’s supremacy over all creation
- it affirms his power, and glorifies him for his mighty work
The point of this inaugural chapter of God’s revelation to us is not to lay out a scientific explanation of the formation of the world.
Genesis One is worship, not science!
It is a declaration of worship directed to the God who caused all things, land, sea, air and the space we wonder about,
to come into existence by a simple act of his will.
People who parse it down to each syllable, quibbling about light before the sun and plants following animals are missing the point; this passage is all about God and his sovereignty over all that we see.
We worship him when we give him the credit he is due for his handiwork, and we can worship him with words not put to music!
4. Craftsmanship
Exodus 35:30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship.
When Bezalel was given the huge responsibility of building the very Ark of the Covenant, and other essential fixtures used in the most Holy place of the Tabernacle, his work became for him an act of worship to the Lord:
6 He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.
- just imagine how stunning this item must have been – it was to be the place where God literally sat with his people
- Bez. worked with much more than his hands, he worked with his heart.
- think of the men and women working to bring our renovation project to fruition – their actions can be an act of worship in our God who has given us such a wonderful facility.
Prayer as worship
pray* - 375x
PRAYER is not a form of worship; it is worship and all our forms should seek to be prayerful.
If you can’t take your worship and say it as a prayer, it may not be worship.
And reverse that as well:
our prayer should also be said in a spirit of worship, of giving God the credit he is due for blessing us so richly and deeply everyday.
If all we do when we pray is recite our spiritual shopping list, we’re not glorifying God, we’re acting like kids writing a letter to Santa Claus!
That doesn’t mean we don’t ask God for help or healing or things that we need; but when we do we do it in a spirit of worship, of affirming that he is charge of our lives, and that he can provide.
We ask in a spirit of awe and love, not in a demanding, “if you don’t come through I’m out of here” tone.
Look to the psalms as models for prayer –
Psalm 23 focuses on God’s faithfulness to us,
Psalm 121 comforts us in times of distress.
The point is to keep God in the middle of it, and let ourselves elevate him. When we do this, we find the right relationship between us and God:
Lord and servant, father and child, creator and creation.
Out of that relationship, built on prayer, comes worship. We don’t need to say the right words, we need to have a heart right with God.
May our prayers worship God, and our worship be prayerful.
To wrap up today,
Let us affirm in our hearts our love for God, and not hesitate to express it in a way that is honouring to our God and truthful to who he as made us.
Let us seek to be a church that makes it’s primary purpose the worship of God the father, Jesus Christ His son, and the Holy Spirit who lives with us and guides us.
A bishop I can’t remember wrote these words to summarize worship -
submission of our nature to God.
quickening our consciousness by God’s holiness.
nourishing our minds on God’s truth.
purifying our imagination by God’s beauty.
opening our hearts to God’s love.
surrendering our wills to God’s service.
Simply put – worship honours God, in spirit, sound and strength of mind and body.
Worship takes all that we have and gives it over to God.
We know that God loves us, worship is telling him that we love him back, and acting like we mean it.
Our church, as individuals and as a group, needs to worship God. That is why we are here.
Without worship. Nothing else matters.
With worship, everything else can find its proper place and a church serves it God with all it’s heart and soul and mind.
