Sabbath:
Sabbath Worship
Scripture Text: Psalm 95.1-8a
INTRODUCTION
Several years ago, my wife and I spent a weekend in Manhattan, New York Since we were there over a Sunday, we wanted to find a church to attend. If you’ve ever been to lower-Manhattan, …you probably-know that there are plenty of sky-skrapers; …there are lots-of office-buildings; …plenty of pavement and taxis and rats runnin’-around-in-the-streets; …but there aren’t many churches!
As-a-matter-of-fact, we only found one: St. Paul’s Church. St. Paul’s is a beautiful, …dignified building. It is surrounded by a graveyard ~ …with some gravestones that are approaching 300 years old!
We went to the early service; …and there were just a handful-of-people there, that-morning; …I suppose the small-crowd was due-to the early-hour!
Now, we didn’t go to worship and start-snappin’ photos during the prayer-time ~ …I down-loaded these pictures from the internet! But, in these pictures, there are colorful-banners hanging from the tall-columns on either-side of the sanctuary. I have a feelin’ that these pictures were taken sometime during-the-week, …and the people are tourists. But, on the Sunday that we there were… Maybe a couple-dozen-folks gathered with us for worship.
Again, you can see the banners and the tall-stately-columns. If I remember correctly, it is the oldest, continually-used building in all-of-Manhattan! As a matter of fact, …this is the church that our first President worshiped in! And over-on-the-left-side of the sanctuary, is a chair, separated from the rest of the pews by a railing. This was President George Washington’s personal seat! I remember standing there, after worship, …looking at the presidential seal hangin’ on the wall, …imagining him sitting-there on a Sunday-morning, …and marveling at the history of this church.
Well… that trip was more than 10 years ago… But, the Lord brought that experience back-to-my-mind. And, along with that memory, …came a question; The question was: Is St. Paul’s church a museum ~ Is it a relic of a storied-past… filled with good-memories… and great accomplishments; …or …is it a vibrant community of faith, …where Christians meet to worship the King of the universe, …and where sinners hear about the hope of the gospel?
I thoroughly enjoy museums. I appreciate history. I have no problem with reminiscing and remembering and honoring days-gone-by. But, when it comes to the Church, …I think that there is more to who-we-are …and why-we-are than the past! Otherwise, …we’d just be a library, …a museum, …an archive of old information and past-experiences!
TRANSITION
That may seem a little-ironic ~ …since last-week our whole emphasis was on remembering.ˆ
Remembering a sanctified-history; …remembering the glory of what-God’s-done for us.
But, we don’t just remember ~ …we worship. Sabbath is a day to worship; …and worship is an action. It’s something we do. …Yes, …it springs from the heart; …It is motivated by our memories of what God has-done for us; …but all-this comes-to-a-head in the tangible, …visible, …audible-actions that express our worship! Worship is not something that is held within; …but it must be expressed!
BODY
I. Lettuce
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
“…let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
“Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song…
“Come, let us bow down in worship,
“…let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (Ps 95.1,2,6)
First-of-all notice that the worship were invited to engage in, is corporate… It is something that God’s people do together The psalm says, “Let us…”
You’ve seen, …heard it, …and felt-it: We live in a very individualistic society. The emphasis is on “me”. ~ “Indulge yourself, …fulfill yourself, “Pamper yourself, …’do it your way’, “’Have it your way’.” And this “me-oriented” culture has penetrated the hearts and minds of God’s people.
We have a bewildering number of opportunities to worship on our own time, ..in our own way, …according to our own preferences. Cable t.v., ....the rise of Christian-radio, …not-to-mention the internet and all the Christian resources found-there: …we are tempted to-think that we can do all-right on-our-own. We are led-to-believe that the invitation to worship is a “Let me…”
Now, don’t mis-understand: Personal worship and personal-relationship with God is vital to having a faith that’s alive and well. But, personal worship was never intended to replace corporate worship! God wants His children to come-together, …join-together, …gather-together to worship: …to sing and to shout, …to thank Him and to lift-up His name, …to humbly bow-down, …and to kneel before our Lord. God invites us all; …the invitation is to join-together in worship. Worship is not simply a private matter; …but it’s a social-activity.
We are social-creatures. Why do you think relationships are important to you? Why do you think we seek out connections with others? Why is it so painful when we lose someone, …or when we move away from our family and friends, …or when our gang implodes with drama? It’s because we’re social-to-the-core. And God wants that aspect of our lives to be sanctified. As we become a part of a church-family, …God is able to work in the social- aspect of our lives, …and the work of sanctification moves ever-closer to completion in us!
This psalm highlights the corporate-nature of worship. Over-and-over-again, …the invitation is to the community-of-faith, …the fellowship-of-believers, …the children-of-God: “Let us… sing, …shout-aloud, …offer-thanksgiving, “…lift up the Name …bow-down, …kneel-before our Maker!” Let us!
Let-me-just-say: …I know that there are reasons to get disillusioned with church. But, whenever you get people-together you’re gonna have mis-understandings, disagreements, and out-right-arguments. It’s gonna happen. But, for all the short-comings and all the deficiencies that people may find with the church-family… With all the reasons and excuses that we can come up with for not coming to worship… And… with all the opportunities to worship on-our-own ~ …we’re tempted to neglect weekly-worship with the body-of-believers. But, although every congregation is a collection-of broken, faulty, confused, and different people, …God has called us (is-calling us) to bind-our-hearts in loving-unity through the act-of-worship!
If I could-be-so-bold as-to-suggest one more “let us…”, here it is: “Let us not allow the enemy to plant dissention, “Let us not give in to the temptation to disconnect, “Let us not ignore the significance of the Scriptural-admonition and the Godly-invitation to join-with-the body-of-believers to worship!” This is God’s design. This is God’s desire. This is God’s dream: that we would unite their hearts and hands and voices in celebrating Him! Let us…
II. Reasons
But-why?
Why would I sing songs that don’t resonate with me; …or listen to a preacher who bores-me; …or sit next to children who are rambunctious, …or sing next to a person who can’t carry-a-tune, …or kneel next to someone whose joints pop-and-crack when they go down; …or lift high the name-of-Jesus when the music is off-key or too-fast or too-slow or too-new or too-outta-date!?! Why-o-why ~ when there are options on t.v., …and on the radio to worship in the way that I like-to?
[I hope you’re smiling at all this ‘cause a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek! ☺]
The reason why we gather-together ~ …despite our differences, …despite our mis-matched personalities, …despite my hang-ups and your oddities ~ …rhe reason why we gather-together to worship on the Sabbath is really pretty-simple! First-of-all: we worship together because God invites us to! It’s His plan, …this is His purpose for us.
But-secondly ~ …and this gets more-to-the-heart of-the-matter ~ …we join-our-hearts together-in-worship because our God is greater than any problem or any difference or any-thing that would get in-between-us!
Again, …going back to Psalm 95, After inviting the children-of-God to join together in worship, …the psalm tells us the reason: “for”. Let us join our hearts in worship, for: For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, ad the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Let us gather together and celebrate His goodness, for: For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, The flock under his care.
In-a-nutshell: The reason why we gather-together for Sabbath worship is because our focus is on Him! Last week, …we learned that one of the key elements of Sabbath-worship is remembering: Remembering God’s might-acts, …His salvation-and-deliverance-and the ways-and-times that He’s rescued us. This week, …the psalmist tells us that another key element of Sabbath-worship is looking-at the world-around-you ~ …from mountain heights, …to the depths of the sea, …from the ocean-expanse, …to the glory of the plains ~ …look at the world-around-you: The Lord God made it all! He is the Creator, …the Designer-and-Builder of-it-all. He is Lord; …He is King; He is Shepherd; …He is powerful and majestic and incomparable! And because of who-He-is, …God’s-people can put-aside whatever-it-is that would divide; …and-instead, …focus on the glory-of-our-God!
As wonderful as it is to have brothers-and-sisters in the faith, …they are not the focus of our worship. You are not why I’m here! Our worship is directed toward the Lord-God. And when there’s problems or ‘issues’, …we don’t let them get in the way of worship because our focus is on One who is so-much-bigger!
III. Warnings
Now… In all my Bble-courses in college and at seminary, …in all the preaching-courses that I’ve taken, …in all the books that I’ve read that deal with crafting a sermon ~ …it has been drilled-into-me that you don’t pull a verse out-of-context. You have-to put it in context. You have to let the passage speak naturally, …and not force it to say something that you want it to say. It is the Word of God, after-all, …and not the word-of-Josh!
And for-that-reason, I must tell you that this psalm is not just-about inviting us to join-together-in-worship. But, the last part of the psalm is a warning. Verse 8 says:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert.”
What is going on here? Well… It’s a warning. Some-of-us can-recall our Bible-history and we remember that the Israelites bitterly complained about being in the desert. They even said that they wished that they were back in Egypt. Even-though the Lord had delivered them out of bondage and slavery, …even-though they were free, …even-though God was providing water and food on a daily-basis (taking care of their needs) ~ …still they grumbled and complained.
Why, do-you-think, does this psalm move from an invitation to worship, …a call for God’s people to come together and worship the Lord in humble-jubilation; …only to quickly move to a warning against hardening their hearts, …a warning against complaining and grumbling?
I’ll tell you why!... The Israelites should’ve been dancin’-in-the-desert! They should’ve-been singing the praises of a God who beat Pharaoh like a school-yard bully; …they should’ve-been filling-the desert-air with songs-of-praise and music; …they should’ve-been humbly-bowing before the One who had split the Sea with the wind-of-His-breath; …they should’ve-been thanking the Lord for His goodness, His compassion, His provisions, His loving-mercy! But-instead, …they grumbled; …they complained; …they blamed Moses; …instead-of-worship, …they were discontent; …un-grateful.
Psalm 95 is a new-song for a new generation. It was originally written for God’s-people who lived hundreds of years after the generation that hardened-their-hearts in the desert; …but the danger, …the temptation is ever-present: …the temptation to overlook God’s greatness, …His blessings, …His glory, …His goodness ~ …the temptation is ever-present for every generation.
And-so, …Psalm 95 is God’s Word to us, too. We are invited to join-our-hearts together in worshiping the Lord ~ …the King of the universe …and the Deliverer of our souls; …we are invited to lift-our-voices together in song, …in praise, …in thanksgiving, …and in humble-prayer.
But, there is a danger! The danger is… if we ignore the invitation. God is calling us to worship-together; …but when this invitation is ignored or disobeyed, hearts are hardened toward Him!
Ya-know-what? ~ I think the desert would’ve-been a rotten-place to spend forty-years! The sand-and-the-sun, …the heat-and-the-reptiles. The temptation-to-complain was not-entirely-unjustified! But, aren’t the blessings of God so-much-bigger than the problems that we face!?! That’s-the-crux-of-it! When I’m facing something that zaps-me, …steals-my-joy, …that’s-when I try to do what Psalm 95 does: …focus on God’s greatness! He is bigger than my problems, …great than my circumstances, …more awesome than what evils-beset-me! And-because-of-that, …I choose to turn my thoughts, …and tune-my-heart into Him. And worship my Lord, …my God, …my Maker, …my Shepherd. And we can do the same. As a church-family, …we can put all-that-stuff that only-divides us, …or the-things that create disagreements or complaints ~ …we can choose to put all-that-stuff into proper-perspective. And compared to the awesomeness of our God, …those mountains aren’t so-big; …the pits aren’t so-deep; …the heat ain’t so-bad; …and the tide ain’t too-strong! We can join our hearts and our hands and our voices in worship of our great and mighty God, …our Deliverer, …our Shepherd!
If we don’t, …then this church will become nothing-more than a museum, …a testimony of something that once-was alive-and-well, …but has since become a relic of that treasured-past!
I like museums ~ …but the church is not supposed to be one! Let us bind our hearts together in worshiping our glorious God!
Amen!
