Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Psalm 96.
I was five years old when Coca Cola came out with one of the most iconic commercials of all time. It was 1971. The idealism of the hippie movement was still hanging in there, but the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy in 1968, the escalation of the war in Vietnam, racial unrest, and the growing generational divide had fractured America.
That was when Coke came out with their “I’d like to teach the world to sing” commercial. It showed people from all over the globe—different races, languages, and cultures—standing on a hillside singing together.
I'd like to buy the world a home,
and furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees,
and snow-white turtle doves.
I'd like to teach the world to sing,
in perfect harmony…
Setting aside the fact that you don’t “grow” bees and birds, it’s a beautiful dream, isn’t it? A world in harmony. A global chorus, voices from every nation singing the same song.
The message was simple: unity, peace, harmony. And all we needed to achieve this utopia was to give the world a taste of “The Real Thing”— Coca Cola.
Believe it or not, Psalm 96 has a lot in common with that Coke commercial. It also imagines us teaching the world a song. It also imagines all the nations of the world singing together in perfect harmony. And like the Coke commercial, Psalm 96 points us to “the real thing.”
The difference is, in the Coke commercial, “the real thing” turns out to be fizzy sugar water. The Coke commercial struck a chord because it touched something true—we long for unity. We want a world where people sing the same song, not shout past each other. But Coca Cola couldn’t deliver that. It couldn’t then, and it can’t now.
But Psalm 96 offers a better vision. Not just a dream, but a declaration. Not a jingle with a product to sell, but a command with a purpose to fulfill.
So we are going to look at Psalm 96 this morning, and emphasize three things:
• We are a people called to sing.
• We have a God worth singing about
• The world needs to hear the song.
Let’s pray together, and then we will look at this Psalm.
[Pray]
This Psalm doesn’t list an author, but it’s likely either David or Asaph, because almost all the words of this Psalm are found in a song sung by David and Asaph when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in 1 Chronicles 16.. It was a huge celebration. Trumpets, harps, lyres were all cranked up to eleven. People were singing and dancing. This was when King David danced so hard he embarrassed his wife (see 2 Samuel 6:14-23). Husbands— how’s that for a challenge? Sing so loud and worship so enthusiastically that you embarrass your family members.
But it was on this occasion that either Asaph or David himself wrote Psalm 96. And in the first three verses, we see that God’s people are called to sing:
I. A People Called to Sing (vv. 1-3)
Psalm 96:1–3 ESV
1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Throughout the Bible, there are more than 500 references to singing, and more than a hundred direct commands to sing. That means if you’re not singing, you’re disobeying. It’s not about vocal talent—it’s about joyful obedience.
Think about the book of Psalms. It’s three times longer than Mark’s gospel, four times longer than Revelation, and longer than all of Paul’s letters combined. It has more chapters than all four gospels put together. That’s not filler. That’s formation. God is shaping His people into a singing people.
You see the command to sing three times just in the first two verses of Psalm 96. Notice it says “sing to the Lord a new song. This is a command repeated 9 times in Scripture: six in the Psalms, once in Isaiah, twice in Revelation. So from the shepherd’s field to the throne room in Heaven, God keeps calling his people to respond with fresh praise.
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t sing old songs. I love the old hymns. And I’ll admit, as a Gen X’er, I still think there hasn’t been any real rock and roll since around 2000. But here’s the thing: one measure of a church’s health is whether it’s still writing new songs. That’s because the mercy of God is not a museum piece—it’s living and active, renewed every morning.
Think about this: when was the last time anyone wrote a song about the Roman Empire? Why not? Because the Roman Empire is gone! Nobody is writing songs about how the steam engine changed their life. But new songs are being written about God because God’s mercies are made new every morning.
So even if you don’t like some of the new music we sing on Sunday mornings, you can still praise God that new music is being written about Him.
Notice there is a transition in verses 2-3. We go from singing to God to singing about God. Sing to the Lord, but also tell of his salvation. Whenever we sing about God, remember there are two audiences: God, whom we know is listening, and the nations, whom we hope are listening. An awareness of this should change how we sing.
Because God is listening, we should sing reverently. And because we want the world to listen, we should sing boldly. Like we actually believe what we are singing!
We can do this because we have a God worth singing about.
II. A God Worth Singing About (vv. 4-6)
Psalm 96 doesn’t just command praise; it justifies it. It gives us reasons to sing, and they all point to the character and greatness of God. Let’s look at them one by one:
Psalm 96:4–6 ESV
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
1. He is above all other “gods”
A great god deserves great praise. Our worship will never exceed God’s worth, but we are commanded to praise a great God greatly. So we don’t come to God with half-hearted worship. We engage all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength. Our lips, our lives, our voices, our hands, our feet— nothing held back!
Notice verse 4 says he is to be feared above all other Gods. Our singing and dancing and worship needs to reflect both exuberance and reverence.
2. Every rival God leaves us empty
Psalm 96:4–6 ESV
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
We don’t get it in English, but there’s a fantastic play on words in this verse when you look at the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim. And the Hebrew word for idols is ellilim. So the Psalmist is saying, “Your elohim are just ellilim.” He’s spitting bars!
It’s not just that the idols are bad— it’s that they are empty. They promise much, deliver little, and demand everything.
Tim Keller put it this way: An idol will always break your heart. It can’t bless you when you succeed, and it can’t forgive you when you fail.
Now before you dismiss this and say, “Yeah, but I don’t worship idols. I don’t have any statues that I pray to.” Not so fast. Anything we make a priority in our lives can become an idol.
This means you can buy all the cars and houses you ever dreamed of. You can get the trophy spouse and the corner office. You can wrap your fingers around every joy held out by this world, but you’ll never know rest a day in this world without Christ. Every trinket, self-help solution, or man-made religion is just one more in an endless line of clouds without water.
By contrast, the Lord made the heavens (v. 5b). Did you know that, according to Job 38:7, while God was creating, “the morning stars sang together and the angels shouted for joy?” You ought to sing because the stars of the heavens sing. When we lift up our hands in worship, we are acknowledging the One who made those hands in the first place!
3. He is both strong and beautiful
Psalm 96:6 says, “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”
That’s not just poetic—it’s profoundly theological. Most religions emphasize the strength of their god: power, authority, judgment. Others lean toward beauty or compassion—divine love or presence—but often at the expense of holiness and justice. Only in the God of the Bible do we find strength and beauty held together in perfect harmony.
You see it most clearly in Jesus Christ. He is the Lion and the Lamb—flipping tables one moment, blessing children the next. He calms storms with a word and weeps at a grave with tears. On the cross, He displays the strength to carry sin and the beauty of sacrificial love. This is a God who is not only to be feared, but adored. Not just obeyed, but worshiped.
If your view of God is all strength and no beauty, you’ll serve Him with fear but never fall in love. If He’s all beauty with no strength, you’ll admire Him but never trust Him.
But in Psalm 96, we are invited into the sanctuary of the One whose power is perfect and whose beauty is breathtaking. That’s why we sing.
III. A World That Needs to Hear the Song (vv. 7-10)
Finally, let’s talk about the world that needs to hear our song. Read verses 7-10 with me:
Psalm 96:7–10 ESV
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
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 holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”
The gospel isn’t a private melody—it’s a public anthem. Psalm 96 moves outward in widening circles—from the people of God singing, to the nations hearing, to the whole earth responding. God’s glory is too great to stay local.
1. The Call is Global (vv.7–9)
Notice that this isn’t just for God’s people Israel. Verse 7— Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Verse 9: tremble before Him, all the earth. Verse 10: Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. This really is the Coke commercial— we are called to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony!
“Ascribe” means to recognize, proclaim, and give credit. This isn’t saying we give God glory. It’s saying we acknowledge the glory that’s already His.
Psalm 96 is missional to the core: worship is never meant to be a private club for insiders.
2. The Response is Costly (v.8–9)
• “Bring an offering… come into his courts… tremble before him…”
• True worship is not just vocal—it’s sacrificial. It costs something: time, attention, repentance, obedience.
• And it’s not casual. This is the splendor of holiness, the weighty beauty of a holy God.
When was the last time your worship made you tremble? When was the last time it cost you something? The nations aren’t just called to watch—they’re called to bring something into God's presence.
3. The Message is Clear: The Lord Reigns (v.10)
“Say among the nations: The Lord reigns.” This is the central confession of Psalm 96—and the whole Bible. He reigns now, and He is coming to judge (vv.13). That’s good news for the oppressed, bad news for the proud, and urgent news for the unreached.
In 1993, John Piper wrote a little book called Let the Nations Be Glad! in which he said this:
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.… Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this sermon, we talked about the 1971 coke commercial. A world singing in perfect harmony—Holding bottles and swaying on a hillside. But it was just a commercial. A dream. A marketing pitch. And even when it was released, it felt hopelessly naive. We wanted it to be real. We had a longing for “the real thing,” but we all knew that Coca Cola couldn’t fill it.
Fast forward ten years. In 1983 a young computer programmer named Steve Jobs approached John Sculley, who was at that time president of Pepsi Cola. Jobs was trying to convince Sculley to become the CEO of the fledgling Apple Computer company. And he gave Sculley this legendary challenge:
Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?
It worked. Sculley left Pepsi, came to Apple, and for better or worse, Apple has changed the world. It is now valued somewhere between 3 and 3.5 trillion dollars.
But beloved church, let me push us one step further. Sugar water isn’t the Real Thing. Apple Computer can’t really change the world. The hope of the world is that God’s people will teach the world to sing God’s song:
That there is a God, glorious and great.
He reigns with righteousness.
He sent His only Son to save us.
He will return to judge the earth with justice.
That’s the real thing. That’s the only hope for saving the world. Psalm 96 doesn’t sell anything, but it declares everything. It calls the nations to worship. It calls us to join creation in rejoicing.
And it challenges us: Do you want to keep singing lesser songs…
Or do you want to teach the world to sing the only one that saves?
Maybe you’ve been singing a lesser song.
A song about success. Or security. Or self.
Maybe your anthem has been bitterness, or doubt, or fear.
Psalm 96 invites you to lay that song down—and pick up a new one.
A song that doesn’t fade.
A song that doesn’t lie.
A song that saves.
So this morning, the invitation is simple:
• If you need to trust in the Lord who reigns—the One who died for your sin and rose again—come.
• If you’re a believer who’s forgotten your song and want to return to joy, to worship, to purpose—come.
• If you’re feeling the call to missions, to proclaim among the nations that the Lord reigns—then come.
Don’t just sing about the Real Thing.
Come and surrender your life to Him.
Come, and let God give you a new song.
