Knowing God Through Worship - Psalm 146 - June 5, 2016
Worship is an important word. It’s in a sense a universal word, because everyone worships something.
For Christ followers, it is the primary activity of our life - the most important thing we do, I believe, that prepares us to be salt and light in this broken world that God loves so much.
We’re talking about worship today, and hopefully we understand that worship isn’t just singing songs to God. It is the hearing of the Word of God, the prayers, the passing of the peace, the offering - every aspect of the worship service.
And when we come to worship on a Sunday, we come to do and be part of an important thing that can, if we are really paying attention and participating, be quite transformational in our lives.
If we’re going through the motions and not actually entering in, we are, of course, not really doing anything other than using up some time on a Sunday afternoon. If we’re here seeking God together, boy. That’s when big things can start in our lives.
1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. 2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
The Psalm we are looking at today begins with 2 exhortations. One is general, to the gathered congregation so to speak. We are here, people, to praise the Lord.
To lift our voices in exaltation to Him. We’re here for Him, not for us. It’s His glory we seek first, not us being uplifted. We and our needs are always secondary to true worship. God is the reason and focus of our worship.
And then we read: “Praise the Lord, my soul”. The Psalmist is telling himself to be a part of that praising of the living God going on in the congregation.
That’s a good word for worship leaders and pastors. While we’re leading others, don’t forget to worship the Lord! Weirdly, that can happen.
For the rest of us, we are exhorted to praise the Lord, O my soul. It’s a call to step out of ourselves, out of the condition of our lives, be it good or rough at the moment,
and enter instead into a laser focus on the living God.
If you have ever thought that you have nothing to give to God, you need to know that the thing he wants most from you is not your activity, not your good works. He wants your faith in Him to be expressed in worship.
This has nothing to do with his needs, or his ego or anything like that. Sometimes people make that serious mistake.
Instead, it has everything to do with you aligning yourself with the truth, aligning yourself with what is true, aligning yourself with the person of God, your Creator.
As we continue to be involved week after week, participating actively in worship, again with a laser focus on God, and hopefully as worship and prayer come to be normal activities in our day-to-day lives, something marvelous begins to happen.
In fact, all the time we spend in God's presence, whether by yourselves, which we need to do or together with the body of Christ…
All the time we spend in God's presence has the impact on us of changing us, transforming us…more and more to be like Jesus, God's son.
The Psalmist says to give give praise to Him.
What do you praise God for? When does worship well up in you? When you see His creation? When you see a life transformed?
When you sense Him in your pain? When you feel His pleasure in your obedience?
Or is worship a strange concept for you. Coming from an atheist background, it sure was for me.
But I learned that it starts with gratitude - thankfulness for Who God is, for what He has done for us through Jesus
Pastor Charles Spurgeon once said “Praise is the honey of life which a devoted heart extracts from every bloom of providence and grace”.
The Psalm points to a decision to live in praise of God throughout our whole lives - as long as we live. That means a great deal.
At the very least, it means that I make a decision to never shift my perspective, my vantage point from being a person who will praise God…
Who will have my eyes open to the reasons to praise God, and who will never allow ANYTHING to alter my course from being a person who lives in praise of the Almighty living God.
There is an important corollary to worshipping God, something that flows naturally out of genuinely worshipping the living God. What is that?
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
The trust in God that we have, be it little or big, grows. Our confidence in God's faithfulness, and his goodness, in the truth of his beauty grows and grows. As we trust God more, we live more at peace.
We live in the knowledge of his sovereign Grace, his love over our lives. When we really know God, we know that there is no one and nothing like him.
There have been times when Barb and I have really struggled financially, not knowing the future, not having a clear idea of the way forward.
Those times are always opportunities to get stressed out, to worry about what is out of our control, to fixate on the problem when the solution is outside of our immediate grasp.
But those times are also opportunities to draw near to God and to simply breath. To lay down the concern, the stress, the worrying at His feet.
The truth is, when you focus on your problems ... they drown you, but when you focus on praising the Lord ... your soul feels relief. The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
They are times when we get to test out our faith. Good times don’t do much for us in terms of growing our faith. Rough times do. They can make us or break us.
It’s actually our call. The main thing is: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded’. James 4:8
Well, what can keep us from drawing near to God? What can cause us to be double-minded? The answer in part is related to trust.
Dividing our trust, diluting our devotion to God and our worship of God with something other than God. That can even be other people.
The Psalmist encourages us to not trust in people. To not place our primary trustin powerful people. To not place our trust in "princes".
He doesn't want us to put our confidence in human beings who cannot save. Instead, He wants our whole commitment to be to him.
In a couple of months I am going to have the pleasure of marrying off my daughter Elia to her fiancé Stephen, in case you haven’t heard. That will be an intense and emotional time, I'm sure.
One of the things I will say to them is that, for instance to Stephen I will say: “When you say “I do” to Elia, what you are also saying, just so you know, is "I don't " to all other women.
And I will say to Elia, “When you say: "I will", to Stephen, you are saying "I won't" to all other men”.
There is an exclusivity to marriage. It is a sacred covenant. In order for it to be sacred, it is between 2 people. A promise made that takes a lifetime to fulfill.
It is an extraordinarily beautiful union that Jesus celebrates in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, even as He answers people’s questions about divorce.
It’s a covenant, and if, if the covenant is violated, it is because someone else is brought into the relationship who does not belong and who threatens the very life of the marriage.
Our relationship with God is not far off that. It is a covenant between us and God. God loves us and because He does, and because He grants us saving faith, we love Him back.
When you and I come to worship God, we are reaffirming that we love Him above all things. We will not entertain idols, other gods that are no gods.
We will not divide our loyalties. God alone is worthy of our worship. He alone is uncreated of all things. Everything else returns to the ground and turns to nothing. God alone is eternal.
This Psalm is a reminder to us to know that our help comes from the Lord, and to place our hope in the Lord, who alone cannot and will not disappoint the trust we place in him
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
8 the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
The rest of the Psalm gives us some good reasons to live in praise of the living God. First off, God is incredibly powerful and creative - He created the entire natural order of things.
Things in the heaven above us, things on the earth, all natural things in the sea - the sea itself. That should be mind-boggling enough to us.
Before He softened toward God, my father, who was an artist, would sit at his art desk, presiding over his own impressive artistic creations. He was really, really good.
And when I would come up to his studio, He would at times talk in a grand voice about being the creator of the particular piece he was working on.
He’d point to some of the characters in the painting and act like he was god over their lives. Most of the time, I think he was kidding.
Sometimes I wasn’t entirely sure, but I knew he liked to bug me by behaving like that.
For him, painting was a completely immersive experience. He would get so caught up in each piece, attending to every precise detail with exacting skill and accuracy.
But my dad was just a man. A creative, driven man, but a man none the less.
But watching his attention to every colour and every shade, every character and blade of grass, every sky he would paint, every tree and field he would render, it gave me a sense of God brooding over His creation.
Taking such care to get everything right.
Creating the systems the made life possible on this planet, creating gravity, placing the moon as it is that gives us the tides as they are.
It’s said that the universe and this planet earth are so incredibly finely tuned, that even very slight variables could have prevented life on earth from being possible. Here’s a really brief idea of what I mean (Show slide).
What is particularly interesting to me is that the Psalmist here links the fact that God is the maker of heaven and earth with what?
With His faithfulness. God’s creative power is tied to his faithful character. As great and mighty and enormous as His authorship over all creation is, so is the greatness of His faithfulness. Sit with that for a moment.
While the psalmist recognizes God as the creator, it is God’s fidelity that is most impressive of all. Throughout the ages God remains consistent.
And how is His faithfulness celebrated in this Psalm. Interestingly, it’s where it touches down on our lives; it’s where the Almighty Living Creator God connects with you and me.
We’re given a montage of contrasts: God’s faithfulness is expressed in justice for the oppressed, upholding their cause;
He gives food for the hungry. He sets prisoners free; He gives sight for the blind; He raises the humble, those who are bowed down.
God loves the righteous - the ones live to participate with Him in His agenda of justice that has just been listed. He protects the stranger, He watches over the foreigner. He sustains the widow and orphan.
See, this is not only to extol God, although it is about that. Its purpose is also to motivate us, God’s children, to imitate his behavior. All those disadvantaged in any way are objects of God’s special concern.
These behaviours, these ways are characteristic for God, but most uncharacteristic behavior for both other gods and for humans.
God is different from any and all creatures. Certainly princes, crowned or self-designated, do not always secure justice for the oppressed, feed the hungry, free prisoners,
give sight to the blind, raise up the lowly, love the righteous, and protect strangers, widows and orphans.
All of this is both literally and figuratively true of God.
God is especially concerned with those spurned or ignored by others because of their lack of power and position in society.
In verse ten, the Lord shall reign forever: Even the main kingly or princely function- that of maintaining justice and good order- is done supremely better by God than by any earthling.
No earthly king or prince can compare to him and, so, he deserves the praise not they.
The story of Saul in the Old Testament is in part the story of God wanting to be the direct ruler of the people of God, to be so close, so welcome that He would guide each person and thus guide the nation – by His presence.
God knew that earthly kings would fall far short of His character and justice. Every king that had ever lived had proven that.
There’s a particularly poignant scene in 1 Samuel 8 where the leaders of Israel come to Samuel, an important leader and prophet in Israel.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said “...Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them”. 1 Samuel 8:4-7
I find this very moving. The story of Israel is a long and convoluted one.
It’s really worth the time you spend reading it because as much as it is history, and it is history, it reflects humanity in general.
That means it reflects the human heart. It reflects the journey of our own hearts.
And in this one passage we see the human heart, expressed in the Elder’s plea, seeking a saviour other than the Saviour. Seeking a leader other than the One Who rules with total justice.
God, who is closer than our own breath, wants to lead us. He Who knows the Way wants to be the One to direct our paths.
He Who has all the power in the universe at His disposal because He made it - it came from Him - wants to fill your life with His power.
“Well, why does does He want to do that?!” Some kind of control freak! No His only reason is that He loves you. He wants to set your life upon a good path.
Not just a good path, because sometimes the good can be the enemy of the best. He wants to set your life upon the best path possible.
And that path is with Jesus as your leader. He is the Person Who loves you the most. He is the One who loves your soul, Who came to redeem your life from the devastation that this broken world has inflicted or can inflict.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil BECAUSE THOU ART WITH ME” Psalm 23:4
Why do we have to fear no evil? Well, we do right to fear evil when we have no spiritual or moral compass. WE are lost at sea without a solid anchor to hold us.
Jesus is the anchor. Jesus Christ is our spiritual and moral compass.
Not only does He tell us what is right...the gospels SHOW US what is right, because in them we see Jesus, God in the flesh, speaking what is right and rebuking what is evil.
Doing justice, showing kindness, loving the humble, identifying with ALL people.
And then He says these words to his friends:”Greater love has no one than this. That he lays down his life for his friends”. John 15:13 Powerful words. Awesome sentiment.
“Yes”, we can imagine, and I can imagine his original disciples thinking to themselves ”Giving up my life would be the greatest expression of love. Hmm”.
But nothing Jesus said did He just say. He was not just a wise man who make pithy, powerful statements that sounded true at a gut level.
A short while after saying those words, Jesus, God in the flesh, the God of Jacob, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, Jesus, the One who remains faithful forever. Jesus the one who upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
Who sets prisoners free; Jesus Who gives sight to the blind, Who lifts up those who are bowed down, Who loves the righteous (and the sinner!), Who watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow.
This same Jesus, author and sustainer of everything, went willingly to the cross.
He agonized in the garden, seeking, if it were possible, another way to reclaim you and me for God. But very shortly bowing to the Father’s will He submitted Himself to the humiliation of a bogus trial - a rigged legal procedure.
He endured mocking, being stripped, beaten, and then mounted upon a cross. Nails to his hands and feet.
There He is, hanging like a common criminal, scorched by the sun He had made. Fighting for oxygen that He had created as a key sustainer of life when He made the earth.
Ridiculed by the leaders who He had formed in their mother’s wombs. Taking upon Himself all our shame, all our pain. Every humiliation and injustice.
Perfect, matchless Jesus, Creator of everything, so profoundly suffered for the sins of humanity that He, Who knew no sin in His own life, BECAME sin for us.
Why? Just because He loves. Just because He loves us. Because He loves you. Because He loves me.
I don’t know. Some people hear the gospel, and it just doesn’t touch down. 2 people hear the same truth, see the same evidence, hear the same testimonies. One could care less. Moves on to the next distraction.
The other one - well I remember my jaw dropping when I first heard and understood the gospel, even though my knowledge at the time was pretty limited.
I remember realizing for the first time that I was loved by the One who is my Maker and my Redeemer.
So as best I could at the time, I said “yes”. No realizing that everything changed that moment.
That the path of my life, which was really, really headed into disputed, dangerous waters, was altered when Jesus entered in and began directing my paths.
If you know Jesus truly as your Lord and Saviour, that means you seek to love and obey Him in all things. And you know what I’m talking about.
You have your own experience of transformation because of what happened when you received Jesus Christ and became a child of the living God.
But if you’re here and you don’t yet know Him; if you haven’t asked Him to enter into your life, if you haven’t received Him I want to give an opportunity for you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, as the king of your life, as the One you will follow all the days of your life.
I’m going to pray a prayer, and if you want to, you can repeat after me.
Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.
I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.
You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.
Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.
Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance.
Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself.
Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life. AMEN.
If you prayed that prayer and you meant that prayer, then something wonderful has just happened in your life.
I want to encourage you to talk to someone here, Pastor Lee, Pastor Jan or myself, or one of our Elders – Breda, Darlene, Rodney, James, Helen – and we can begin to share with you how you can begin your new life in Christ. I’d love to meet with you to discuss your next steps as a new follower of Jesus Christ. Amen.
