A minister had run out of time to prepare for a sudden funeral. Using the latest
technology, he went to his computer and found the funeral service he had used last,
and doing a word "search and replace", had the computer put in the name of the newly
deceased, "Edna", as a replacement for the woman in the previous funeral, Mary.
Everything went fine until they came to the Apostles’ Creed, wherein the minister
confessed that Jesus was born of the Virgin Edna.
Our worship of God can become routine… and in our routine we can forget whom we’re really worshipping…. In our rushing we can substitute the greatness of God with a god of convenience and comfort.
And the real enemy in this process isn’t technology… it’s trivialization. As it’s been said, we worship a great God in an age of trivialization.
Neighbor began talking with me yesterday …Jewish but non-devout….said, “I’ve been thinking I should do a little again… ‘A little religion is good thing.’ We can all appreciate what he thought… a little moral groundwork… a little symbolism… but ultimately “a little religion” is a dangerous thing.
We are all vulnerable to a process in which we become the center… and as this happens… the power of worship is reduced to our own needs and perceptions.
Jesus tells us to make no mistake about the significance of such an approach to God…
· "For this people’s heart has become calloused; their ears are hard of hearing, and
they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with
their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." (Matt.
13:15)
· "These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me." (Matthew 15:8)
Last week began series on Psalms…. Saw emphasis on being open & honest with God…. as a critical part of keeping our hearts passionate in any relationship… especially with God.
The Psalms reveal a true reverence that lies between repression and rebellious independence .
We need both authenticity and awe.
> Psalm 95:1-11
Written as a call to worship for the community… and as he addresses the hearts of his fellow worshipper… I hear a challenge to my own heart… about what’s involved with keeping my soul before God.
Vv 1-2
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
[2] Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
“Sing for joy” = great sense of celebration
“shout aloud” = Hebrew ‘raw-nan’ – As one scholar describes, “In many cases the jubilation could equally well be expressed in shouting or song—either would suit the context. The KJV translates by "sing" half the time. In any case, Israel’s song would have been somewhat different from ours and perhaps more similar to jubilant shouting. R.L.H”
May seem strange to us… yet I think many of us have experienced this in concerts and sports events.
> This isn’t the kind of hyped up pep rally cheer… this is a call to shout for a God who makes any human focus of applause look trivial.
Why?
vv. 3-5
[3] For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
Notice the connection between the character / nature of our worship and the character / nature of WHO we worship…. The connection between the supremacy of God and joy. We believe that because God is supremely great -- in power and wisdom and justice and goodness and truth and love -- because he is supremely great and glorious, therefore to know him and have fellowship with him is the only source of supreme JOY.
Let us shout joyfully to Him … FOR the LORD is the great God, and a great King above all gods.
To condense it to the basics: Rejoice in God because God is supreme. The supremacy of God is the ground of our joy.
So we love to say,
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
Our joy in him magnifies the glory of his supremacy over us.
‘Mentioning these gods (idols) does not acknowledge their reality. It is a statement of God’s sovereignty and superiority over every force, real and imagined. Everything in Creation—including things the pagans venerated as gods—the Lord made, and therefore He has power over it all.’
‘Even those who deny the existence of God have gods which they worship and to which they give their allegiance and loyalty. No man is without a god. I have never yet met an irreligious man although I have met many who claimed to be so. All men have gods.’
VV. 4-5…
[4] In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
[5] The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
‘Here we have the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains, the breadth of the sea, and the dry land; all the things that challenge men, that hold forth promise of adventure, excitement, fascination, and mystery. We are still trying to plumb the depths of the earth, and only a few years ago did man finally scale the heights of the mountains in the climbing of Mt. Everest. We are still exploring the mysteries of the sea. We are trying to solve the problems of the dry land and to discover its resources. The Psalmist is simply reminding us that all these things that hold forth to us challenge, mystery, excitement, and adventure are from God. He has planned them, he has put them there. Let us thank God, not only because he is in charge of all the forces that sustain our lives but let us praise him because he is also behind the mystery, the adventure, the excitement, of life, the things that give it flavor and enticement, and make it worth living. All men are exhorted to worship and praise God for these things.’
To come before God is to come before the magnitude of the Creator of all … all that reflects wonder and beauty… and awe and inspiration… and power and danger.
· Have we lost our sense of the true nature of God?… of His magnitude?
· Have we allowed ourselves to trivialize God in our casualness? …
· Have we reduced the glory of God into a manageable deity we can work with ?….
· Have we lost the great sense of awe that stands before us because we reduce God into a mere extension of our needs?
Was reminded this week of God that, as Hebrews declares, Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, [29] for our "God is a consuming fire."
“A consuming fire”…. Hardly limited to the concept of nice safe warmth we so often have in our minds.
I venture to say not many of us got up this morning and thought, “Wow… it’s time to go before the all consuming fire !”
Let’s be honest…. For most of us… we’re simply aware of our needs… when we come to worship it’s far more about ourselves. So we come as we like…. when we like.
My journal, “O Lord, how often I come before your throne, yet I am the center of attention.”
We’ll deal with this more in the weeks ahead when we enter our new facility… but for now we can ask ourselves,
1. Does my soul come with the excitement and passion fitting of the magnitude of God?
Continues with another call to worship…
vv. 6 –7
[6] Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
[7] for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
To bow and kneel is clearly an act of humility…. a symbol of Humility and Submission.
The day is coming when everyone will kneel before God.
Philippians 2:10 and 11 says -- ... at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
But it is also an act of TRUST.
In coming before the God who holds everything in His hands… it is only fitting to come FULLY ENTRUSTED before Him.
Has the 5 o’clock news torn our trust of who holds history? Has the 11 o’clock news stolen my sense of who I come before when I come before God? … that I come in the ignorance of a sheep before the sovereign care of an all-watching shepherd.
So a second question to ask ourselves…
2. Does my soul come with the trust and surrender fitting God’s care and sovereignty?
Finally, He continues…
vv. 7b – 11
Today, if you hear his voice,
[8] do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
[9] where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.
[10] For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways."
[11] So I declared on oath in my anger,
"They shall never enter my rest."
> Hardened heart.
How does a heart become hardened?
Rarely is it conscious & calculated. More often it develops in a subtle but steady process.
Most often the root of a hardened heart is unresolved disappointment… that becomes unresponsive disobedience.
Ex – The people of Israel regarding the manna… same can be true of marriage… money
As with the Israelites, it often begins with a complaint we begin to take to heart more than take to God.
Then comes justification.
Suddenly we replaced God as the center around which life operates… and we’ve become the center.
Notice the significance of being quick to respond…
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts…”
Maturity is reflected when the gap between knowing what God wants and responding… becomes shorter and shorter.”
So thirdly we can ask ourselves…
3. Does my soul come with the responsiveness fitting His voice?
Prayer
