Summer in the Psalms
Psalm 96 - Proclaim the Greatness of God
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
08-08-2021
[Missa reading Psalm 96 in Spanish]
Background of Psalm 96
This morning we continue our Summer in the Psalms series by looking at what commentators call a “missionary song.”
Psalm 96 has no title or author but we actually know exactly what the occasion of its writing.
In I Chronicles 16:23-33, David enlists Asaph to write a psalm of praise for the singers and people to sing as the Ark of the Covenant was brought back from Obed-Edom to Jerusalem.
It’s a psalm of wonder and worship. It is filled with reverence and rejoicing for God. It is a song of missionary passion for the nations to know the joy of knowing this great God. It’s a psalm of worshipping, witnessing, and waiting for the return of the judge.
Turn to Psalm 96.
Prayer.
[Slide] A Command to Worship (1-3)
[Slide] Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
The first three verses contain four commands - sing, praise, proclaim, and declare.
The Psalm begins with a directive to sing to the Lord a new song.
Psalm 33 echoes the same:
“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” (Psalm 33:1-3)
“Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth…” (Isaiah 42:10)
This could literally mean sing a brand new song that was written for this occasion. Or is could mean to sing a song celebrating as Jeremiah writes in Lamentations:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
In our singing, we praise His name. Remember, to praise his name is to focus on the attributes of God.
Did you notice that the psalmists tells us to sing three different times? Interesting. We’ll come back to that.
We proclaim His salvation day after day. We’ve got good news that never gets old. By our singing, in our worship, in our living for His glory alone, we are like a billboard for the greatness of God each and every day of our lives.
Christians have a desire to see others come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ from every tribe, tongue and nation.
We declare that God is glorious and are bold to tell of His marvelous deeds.
James Montgomery Boice defines glory as “the majestic aura of the divine presence.” This word literally means “weightiness, heavy, or impressive.”
This command is not just given to the nation of Israel but to “all the earth…the nations…the peoples.” God is not a local Deity but He is a global God with a global focus.
In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham that “all the families of the earth will be blessed through Him.” (Gen 12:3).
This is part of the fulfillment of this prophecy to Abraham that will ultimately culminate in the coming of the Messiah.
[Slide] The Cause of Worship (4-6)
We are called to worship with our lips and lives. But why? What are the reasons for this kind of passionate worship?
[Slide] For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Simply put, because God is worthy of our worship! Look at the words that the psalmists uses to try to describe God - great, most worthy, made the heavens, splendor, majesty, strength, and glory! God is all of these things and so much more.
We should have a holy reverence and respect for God because He is isn’t some fake deity, He is the one that made the universe!
Let me quote Psalm 33 again:
“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” (Psalm 33:8-9)
There is a play on words in the Hebrew that you don’t see in the English. God is Elohim but the idols are “elil,” which literally means “nothings.”
This isn’t exactly politically correct to say these days but there is only one God, all the other gods are demons, and only one way to God, all other ways lead to destruction:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Why do we worship and witness? Because God is worthy of all our praise!
David wrote in Psalm 145:
“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:1-3)
If you don’t see God as great and majestic and wondrous, then your worship will be tepid and your witness will be weak.
[Slide] Content of our Worship (7-9)
[Slide] Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
Again there are commands for us, and not just us, but for the nations. Three times, David commands us to ascribe to the Lord.
In ascribing to the Lord, we are not giving God anything He doesn’t have. We are acknowledging His glory and strength due His name.
Sidney McLaughlin won Olympic Gold in Tokyo and set another world record in the 400 meter hurdles. When ask about her gold medal she replied:
“I don’t deserve anything. But by grace, through faith, Jesus has given me everything. Records come and go. The glory of God is eternal.” Sidney McLa
Ascribe to the Father, ascribe to the Son, ascribe to the Holy Spirit.
Next, we are to bring and offering and come into His courts. True worship embraces sacrifice.
When David wanted to buy the threshing floor from Arauna, and he tried to give it to the king as a gift, David replied,
“I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” (2 Sam 24:24)
This offering would be a bloodless sacrifice like wine, grain, or oil. We don’t give those kind of sacrifices anymore but we do offer up:
“…a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Heb 13:15)
We worship the Lord is the splendor of His holiness. Splendor can be translated “beauty.” Holiness means to be set apart.
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord…” (Psalm 27:4)
The last command is tremble before Him, all the earth. This word can mean to writhe, to twist, to be in pain.
The story is told of Queen Elizabeth visiting Los Angeles and she wanted to drive into some normal neighborhoods. As they were driving down a street, she asked the driving to stop and much to the surprise of the security detail, she walked up to a house and knocked on the door.
The lady opened the door and did a double take. Can you imagine the Queen of England standing on your front porch? What would you say? What would you do?
Well, this lady did a very American thing but something that is totally against royal protocol. Instead of curtsying, she gave the queen a big bear hug!
I think we sometimes do this with God. We get so comfortable with Him that we forget that He is a consuming fire.
When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, high and lifted up, his immediate reaction was one of terror:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
The writer of Psalm 99 says it this way:
“The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!” (Psalm 99:1-3)
But, for Christ Followers, this fear is turned into ecstatic joy.
Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Giamarco Tamberi of Italy ended up tied after multiple jumps. There were two options - go for a winner take all jump off or…well watch this!
Is that the kind of response you have to God? He was literally trembling with joy.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“Believers adore and worship the living God, “with joyful, tender fear, which both lays us low, and lifts us very high, for never do we seem to be nearer to heaven’s golden throne than when our spirit gives itself up to worship Him whom it does not see, but in whose realized presence it trembles with sacred delight.”
We will worship in relation to our understanding of God greatness, our sinfulness, and the beauty of the Gospel!
Center of our Worship (10-13)
“Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
Here David gives us the theme of the Psalm - we are to say among the nations - “The Lord Reigns!”
This is a constant theme throughout the book of Psalms and the entire Bible.
The Sons of Korah wrote in Psalm 47:
“Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.” (Psalm 47:6-8)
God is Sovereign, which is a theological word that simply means He’s in charge. Even when the world seems to be out of control, God has firmly established it, it is solid, and unmovable.
We will come back to His judgement in just a minute.
But let’s look at the creation’s response.
[Slide] The Context of our Worship
[Slide] Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.”
Paul writes that even the creation is ready to explode intro praise;
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19-21)
I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses:
“Let’s hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in, And a huge round of applause from Sea. Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance, Put every tree of the forest in the choir—An extravaganza before God as he comes…” (Psalm 96:12-13a)
For people who want to say, “Only God can judge me,” you are correct, and He will! His judgement will be with equity (fairness), righteousness (according to His holy standard), and faithfulness (in truth).
Only those who are holy can stand before the judgment and that would include none of us. If only we had Someone who was perfectly holy to stand with us at that judgement. We’ll come back to that!
This psalm is a missionary melody that directs us to worship the Lord, witness to the nations about His greatness and glory, and waiting for the righteous judge to come back and set everything right.
Applications
Christians are a singing people
Hindus don’t sing. Muslim’s don’t sing. Buddhists don’t sing.
But Christians have a song to sing! We sing. We sing together and we sing individually in the car or the shower.
There are fifty direct commands to sing to the Lord in the Bible and singing is mentioned over 400 times!
Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph 5:18-20)
And to the Colossians:
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Col 3:16)
James writes:
“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.” (James 5:13)
D.A. Carson defines worship as “the proper response of all sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their creator God, precisely because He is worthy.”
Singing is an act of worship and witness and discipleship. It is declaration to the world that we are not ashamed of the Gospel and that our God is a global God.
In 2008, I helped lead a mission trip to Mexico to support our missionaries Paul and Grace Becker. On our trip were five students and we were eager to get those students together with the church’s youth group.
There was just one problem. In that region of Mexico, students weren’t required to learn English and our students had a smattering of Spanish. We played a few games and then ate together. I shared my testimony through an interpreter and, truthfully, we were all feeling a little lost.
Then I got out my guitar and one of the Mexican students ran and got her guitar. After some broken Spanglish, we decided to play “You are My All and All.” They started in Spanish and we sang in English. And something happened that I simply cannot explain.
We sang together, as brothers and sisters, with united hearts to the glorious God who is a global God. The Holy Spirit inhabited our praises and everyone there would tell you that God did something extraordinary.
I’ve never forgotten it. I never want to forget it. That sort of experience is what mission trips are made of - in a foreign country with people who don’t speak your language but who worship the same God as we do.
We were created to worship and witness to the nations. I’ve worshiped in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Trinidad. Maxine has worshipped in the mountain villages of Thailand. Everywhere you go, there are those who worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Right now, under trees in Africa, in underground churches in North Korea, in cathedrals in Europe, in megachurches in Houston and a little church with a big heart in Chenoa, Christians are lifting their voices together in song to our Savior.
Worship here is just a rehearsal for worship in heaven:
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
We worship with reverence and rejoicing.
Let’s put this into practice right now.
B. Where Is Jesus in this Psalm?
As always, we need to ask where is Jesus in this Psalm.
When the Bible was translated into the Syriac language in the second century, the title of this psalm was, “a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles who should believe in Him.”
When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, his title for psalm 96 was, “This is a prophecy concerning the Kingdom of Christ and the spreading of the Gospel to the whole world.”
The Jewish commentators considered this a missionary, Messianic psalm.
The proclamation of His salvation day after day is fulfilled in the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6,8)
Jesus is the splendor, majesty, beauty, strength, and glory of the Father - "The Son is the image of the invisible God…” (Col 1:15)
And Jesus is coming again to be the judge of the world. At His first coming, He came as a lamb to be slaughtered in our place as a sacrifice for sin. At the second coming, He is coming as a lion:
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.” (Rev 19:11-16)
He will judge with fairness, righteousness and truth. The bar for admission to heaven is complete holiness and none of us get even close. But if you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, He will not be our judge. He was judged in our place and has traded His righteousness for our sin.
Will you be able to stand at the judgment?
C. Mission trip to Mexico
That brings us to an official announcement. Mexico/ me and you/ in 2022!
We are planning a mission trip for next summer to support Dan and Christie Ucherek in Cancun.
There are 130 million people in Mexico, 330 people groups, speaking 297 languages. While most of the population are nominal Catholics, there is a growing evangelical presence there. In 1960, there were about 800,000 evangelical Christians in Mexico. Today, there are over nine million and the church is growing.
Mike and Christie Todd visited Dan and Christie and I’d like to asked them to come up and share about their trip.
Mike and Christie’s report
