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 marvellous deeds among all peoples.
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. Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
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 splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. 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.
Psalm 96
‘In the beginning Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment; you will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same and your years will never end’.
Those are the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 102 and of the writer of Hebrews, and they are worship, when they are spoken because the heart loves the realities behind the words.
That’s what we learnt from Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in John 4.
‘Worshippers the Father seeks, are those who worship him in spirit and truth’.
And, from the Psalmist holed up in the mountains fighting with every fibre of his being to praise the God of his life in the midst of severe trials, we learnt that there is a pursuit of God that is a kind of wrestling-worship.
‘Why are you downcast O my soul? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him’.
And now we’ve got another psalm to direct our understanding of what worship is – Psalm 96.
Outward expressions?
The question this morning is, if Jesus placed such an emphasis on the role of the heart in worship – and he did. And if the psalmist placed such an emphasis on pursuing God with his soul even when it was in the depths of despair – and he did. Then should there ever be anything other than worship that is inward; soulish; individual and without tangible expression?
To put it another way. Should Christians bring to expression what’s going on in their hearts?
I believe the answer is yes, and that the bible makes it crystal clear that that is the case.
God wants heartfelt worshippers of himself, that’s a foundational truth. And, based on Psalm 96, God wants those feelings, as they embrace the truth about Him to come to expression.
I’m going to argue that it is eminently fitting that God should be not only experienced but shown to be utterly majestic and surpassingly valuable. And, that if he is only inwardly appreciated and not outwardly shown to be appreciated for who he is, then his majesty is diminished.
About the Psalm
Some introductory remarks about this Psalm are in order. The first thing is, you may remember that last time we read 1 Chronicles 16 and reminded ourselves of how King David brought the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem with dancing and singing and rejoicing. Well, that chapter records the song that is duplicated here in Psalm 96.
The second thing is, that this Psalm is unmistakably majestic. King David uses royal language to express the attributes of God.
Consider the following:
The Lord’s deeds are marvellous (v.3)
The Lord is great (v.4)
He is to be feared (v.4)
Splendour and majesty are before him (v.6)
Strength and glory are in his sanctuary (v.6)
His name is glorious (v.8)
Come into his courts (v.8)
Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness (v.9)
Tremble before him (v.9)
Say among the nation, ‘The Lord reigns’ (v.10)
He will judge the peoples with equity (v.10)
He comes to judge the world in righteousness and faithfulness (v.13).
In all Israel, perhaps in all the middle east, there is no king like David at this time, but David knows in all the world; in all the universe there is no king like his God.
We live in a country of government rule, established by the people, for the people. A country where prime ministers can be differed with and where ruling parties can be unseated.
That is not the picture here. The picture here, is a king who rules by right; a king who is sovereign over all; one who is high and lifted up; majestic. Strength and glory characterise him. Righteous justice is his sceptre (Hebrews 1:8). His name is utterly noble and has no ancestry.
He is the first over all. His power causes people to tremble. His reign is from shore to shore, and from everlasting to everlasting. What he establishes no one can move and what he resolves no one can thwart.
His dominion is absolute. No one can unseat him. No one can contend with him and prevail.
That’s the king David has in mind. That’s the king who is our God.
The Psalmist’s reason to worship
Notice six instances in the Psalm where the very essence of who God is, is the reason to worship him.
Verse 4, coming off the back of verse 3:
‘Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among the peoples. For great is the Lord’.
The Lord is great therefore the suitable response to that greatness is to declare his glory.
Verse 4, ‘the Lord is most worthy of praise’.
Worthy is who he is. In his very being he is worthy to be made much of. In heaven the angels are saying, ‘worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise’ (Revelation 5:12).
Verse 4 again, ‘he is to be feared above all gods’.
If you behold him as he truly is, then the natural fitting response is awe. So, when Moses went to look at the bush that would not burn up, God spoke to him out of it and Moses trembled with fear (Acts 7:32).
Verse 5, ‘the Lord made the heavens’ therefore declare his glory. The heavens are declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1) as the maker of everything, and the proper response is to join with them in that declaration.
Verse 8, ‘Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name’. His name is far above all other authority and rule, power and dominion; above every name that can be invoked not only in the present age but also in the one to come (Eph 1:21).
And verse 13, ‘Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth’.
As the ultimate judge and justice of the cosmos, he is worthy that the cosmos glories in him. For, ‘from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever and ever’ (Romans 11:36).
So, if all those reasons exist – and there are many more that could be amassed from the rest of scripture – then what would suitable, fitting, corresponding responses to such a king from a subject look like?
That’s what Psalm 96 answers.
Verse 9 says, ‘Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness’. And we have to ask ourselves, is there anything in the rest of the Psalm that helps us to know what that worship should look like?
The answer is, the references are pervasive. There is not a single reference in this Psalm to the heart – not one. But there is a multitude of references to expressive worship.
That’s not to say that the heart is therefore unimportant, we’ve spent two Sunday morning’s showing that that is unquestionably not the case. But the focus of this Psalm is not the heart but the overflow of the heart.
Overflow
In 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul is at pains to set an example to the Corinthians about generosity. And he does it by drawing their attention to some Macedonian believers who, in the midst of a severe trial, gave richly in spite of their extreme poverty. Here’s how he describes it:
‘In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us’.
Paul’s emphasis is on the action of giving, but the source of the gift wasn’t riches – they didn’t have any. It wasn’t like they gave because they had surplus cash lying around. Their poverty was extreme Paul says. He’s not exaggerating. They didn’t have left-over. The source, Paul makes clear was a joyful heart that overflowed. Not joy in life’s luxury – they didn’t have any – but joy in the Lord. They gave themselves first of all to the Lord. Which I take to mean, they beheld him in all his majesty and in gushing gladness, as they beheld him, they said to themselves, ‘who are the king’s servants who need help’ – that’s Paul and his companions – ‘we’ll give what we can’t afford to give, to them, that glory might come to our God’.
In other words, their hearts were so full of gladness for Jesus, they couldn’t help but overflow in an expression of it for their God – namely giving gifts to help the cause of Christ.
That’s what this Psalm shows us.
The heart of worship is not the focus of this Psalm, but the expressions of the overflow of the heart that is radically in love with God, are evident all over it.
Evidence like this:
Sing to the Lord.
Praise his name.
Proclaim his salvation.
Declare his glory.
Ascribe (that means ‘give to’) to the Lord, glory and strength.
Bring an offering to the Lord.
Come into his courts.
Tremble before him.
Say, ‘The Lord reigns’.
Most of those expressions are the fruit of lips, but not all. Some are bodily, like trembling and offering and coming into.
King David is showing us there are outward expressions of a worshipping heart that are not only fitting for the King of kings, but serve to enhance his glory.
Verse 3 – Let all the nations know that he is a glorious king.
Verse 7 - Let all the families of the nations know the Lord is glorious and strong.
Verse 10 – Let the nations know, ‘The Lord reigns’.
Showing God’s worth in expressions of worship
These overflowing expressions of God’s worth to the soul serve not only to make much of him in a vertical way, but to show that worth to the world in a horizontal way.
David wants his King to be worshipped not just by himself. And not just by his people. And not just by a few. And not just sometimes. He wants all the earth to join with him; and all the nations to sing of his marvellous deeds. He wants all the families of the nations to join him in ascribing glory and strength to God. He wants all the earth to tremble before the holiness of God arrayed in his splendour. By his expression of worship, he’s inviting nations to join him in saying ‘Our God reigns’. And not just sometimes, but ‘day after day’ (v.2).
In fact, David is so impressed with the Lord, that when he looks at the stars, he hears them rejoicing in the Lord. When he beholds the earth, he senses the gladness it has in its maker. When David hears the crashing of the waves, he hears a drum-roll for the King of kings. When he sees the grain gently swaying in the wind, he sees every ear moving in jubilation because of God. He walks amongst the trees of the forest, and every rustle of the leaves is a note of joyous song to the maker of heaven and earth. To him all creation joins with him to rejoice before the Lord.
Groaning and singing
That means all of creation simultaneously groans (Romans 8:22) and sings. That is to say, creation is simultaneously waiting eagerly for the return of the king when all things will be made new, and rejoicing in the Lord who is king over all.
That’s a tension we need to live in the light of. We need to be just like that. Eagerly awaiting the king and rejoicing before the king.
So, I conclude that worship as it comes to expression is a response that lines up or accords with, and tells the truth about the worth of God.
The content of those expressions will always need to be the true attributes of God – it’s not worship if the expression conveys falsehoods – but the expressions themselves will take lots of forms.
Many of the expressions will come by way of our mouths, be it singing, explaining, reciting, proclaiming, declaring, or talking, but others will be expressions that come by way of the choices we make with our time, our money, our energy, our resources, our lives.
If we asked ourselves before we spent our money, ‘how will this serve to make God look more glorious’ – what radical worshipping Christians we would appear to be. If we made life decisions based not on our coin but on our kingdom; and based not on our gold but on God’s glory, how different we would look to the world we live in.
The Macedonian’s difference was visible, and so were Paul and Silas’. Acts 16 tells us that Paul and Silas were being followed by a woman possessed by an evil spirit. After following them for a long time, Paul turned around and commanded the spirit to leave her. That spirit had been a very profitable money-spinner for some people who had claimed ownership of this woman, and when they saw their hope of making money gone, they seized Paul and Silas and brought them before the magistrates on trumped up charges. The magistrates had them stripped, beaten with rods, flogged and thrown in prison. Paul and Silas must have been in a bad way. The jailer put them in the coldest cell (the inner one) and clamped their feet in the stocks. Now, that’s not a situation you would readily rejoice in. But Luke tells us, Paul and Silas could be heard by the prisoners praying and singing hymns to God.
And, when a supernatural earthquake came and every prisoner was set free from their chains and their cell doors flung open, and after Paul had cautioned the jailer not to kill himself because all the prisoners were still in their cells, Luke tells us the jailer asked Paul and Silas, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved’.
Where on earth had he got that idea from? ‘I need to be saved, what must I do?’ is an unearthly question. Well, the Holy Spirit of course. But by what means? By the means of the prayers and songs of two inmates who should have been licking their wounds and moaning in agony, but who instead worshipped God in the midst of their suffering, with audible expressions of praise. What did that look like to the jailer? It looked like Paul and Silas’ God was real and surpassingly worthy.
Corporateness
What about corporate expressions of worship?
Nehemiah 8 gives us an account of the Israelites assembling as one people. We’re told the men and women and all who could understand came together to hear Ezra read the Book of the Law of Moses. As Ezra read it, he praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people lifted up their hands and responded ‘Amen! Amen!’.
The record says Ezra made the meaning of the book plain to the people so they could understand it, and as they listened, they wept – they were cut to the heart. And Nehemiah said, go and feast to the Lord, ‘for the joy of the Lord is your strength’.
Moving to the New Testament, when we read Luke’s account of the early church, we read that they all joined together and continued to meet together. And when they did, we’re told they expressed their heartfelt love for God in prayer (Acts 1:14 & 4:24), in listening attentively to the Apostle’s teaching (Acts 2:42), in sharing their belongings with those in need (Acts 2:44), in breaking bread together with gladness (Acts 2:46), in praising God (most likely in song) and enjoying fellowship (Acts 2:47). And the Lord was very pleased for ‘he added to their number daily those who were being saved’. That is to say, the nations and families King David is speaking about in Psalm 96 started to come in.
So, at the inauguration of the new entity called the church – that’s what I believe Acts 2 and Pentecost signifies - believers were gathering together and collectively bringing their heartfelt love for God to expression in responses that were tangible.
So, the evidence of the New Testament is that the church gathered together to collectively worship which is what we are seeking to do this morning.
And, I would just exhort all of us to take our collective time of worship seriously!
Remember the warning-words of the Lord Jesus when he said, ‘these people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me’ (Matthew 15:8). When that happens, worship is non-existent. We might call it ‘worship’, but it’s a non-event to God. In other words, we can come to gather together with the express intention to worship, and our hearts be stony cold towards the Lord.
So, don’t be the kind of person who thinks that heartfelt worship is a ‘given’ on a Sunday morning. If the hours preceding our time together are mainly taken up with trivialities, then expect worship to be trivial and trite. Take some time, read some psalms, sing some hymns, pray that the Lord would come to your heart and give you lively affections for him that accord with the truth about who he is.
Then come with heart prepared and sing a new song to the Lord, praise his name, proclaim his salvation; and declare his glory and his marvellous deeds.
May the Lord bless us as we seek to worship him.
Amen.
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