Review:
A “Whatever it Takes” Commitment:
1. Does not hold to convention
2. Is not hemmed in by circumstances
3. Does not heed convenience
4. Is not hampered by criticism
5. Does bring honor to Christ
Read Psalm 95
I do whatever it takes to love God when I…
(Note: The first letters of the points of this message form an acrostic for the word "worship".
Worship based on God’s command rather than my comfort
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
Psalm 95:1, 2, 6 (NIV)
Worship isn’t about me – it’s about God. Every verse in this Psalm revolves around God. And since worship is all about God, he is the one who gets to decide how I worship. But, unfortunately for all of us, our worship has a tendency to be based more on our own background and traditions than what the God has to say about worship in His Word.
That was certainly true in Jesus’ day. The religious leaders of the day had perverted worship and twisted around into something that they were comfortable with rather than what God desired:
Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads." He went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions!
Mark 7:6-9 (Message)
I’ll admit to you this morning that I’ve gotten caught up in that kind of attitude myself sometimes. In fact, I need to ask your forgiveness this morning, because in the past I’ve said some things about worship that I’m now convinced were wrong. I can clearly remember telling you that you should do whatever is comfortable to you when you worship God – if you’re comfortable, go ahead and clap; if you’re comfortable raise your hands, etc. But our comfort is not really the issue here. The issue is what has God commanded us to do.
Here are just a couple of verses regarding worship that are clearly God’s commands to us:
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 47:1 (NIV)
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
Psalm 143:2 (NIV)
Now I’m not saying that we should clap our hands or raise our hands all the time. I’m not even saying that all of you ever have to do those things. But what I am saying is that when you decide whether or not you are going to do those things, the standard should not be “am I comfortable”, but rather “what does God want me to do”.
Overflow with joyful praise
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
Psalm 95:1, 2 (NIV)
The kind of worship the Psalmist describes here is vocal, vibrant and vigorous. We are to sing for joy and shout aloud. We are to extol God with music and song.
If any of you have ever gone to a sporting event, you’ve probably experienced that kind of worship. Unfortunately, the object of that kind of worship isn’t God; it’s your favorite team. When I go to the U of A basketball games, there is a certain amount of excitement that is generated by the cheerleaders, the band or the PA announcer. But the most exuberant cheering occurs when the fans react to seeing the players make a great play. The Psalmist indicates that worship is a lot like that. It’s not so much trying to manufacture a vocal, vibrant and vigorous praise, but rather that kind of praise is a natural overflow of seeing God and then responding to Him.
And so time after time in the Psalms we are exhorted to sing for joy to the Lord and to shout out our praise to Him. In the New Testament, Paul also encourages us to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Have you ever wondered why music is such an essential element in our worship? I have a theory on that. We know that God has commanded us to love the Lord God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind. Let’s focus just a moment on the “all our mind” part of that command. We know from science that our brains have two sides – a left side that is primarily the center of our logical thought, words, and language and a right side that is primarily the center of our creativity, visual stimulation and random thought. And singing is the one activity that best utilizes all of our mind at one time. The left side of our brain focuses on the words, while the right side focuses on the music.
So that brings up the age old question? What kind of songs are we to sing? Hymns or praise choruses?
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what’s the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer said, "Well, it’s like this - If I were to say to you "Martha, the cows are in the corn"’ - well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Martha, Martha, Martha,
Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows
the white cows,
the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS
are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN.
Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus."
The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit and attended the local church of the small town. He went home and his mother asked him how it was.
"Well," said the young man, "it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs."
"Hymns?" asked his mother. "What are those?"
"Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what’s the difference?" asked his mother.
The young man said, "Well, it’s like this - If I were to say to you ’Martha, the cows are in the corn’ - well, that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to the bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.
So what she would sing? Hymns or praise choruses? I think the answer to that question is “yes”. We ought to sing both of them. The Scriptures seem to support the singing of a variety of kinds of songs. God seems to be much more concerned with how we sing them rather than what kind of song we sing. As long as the songs extol God and we sing them with joy and exuberance, I think God is pleased.
Recognize God as He really is
For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land…for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.
Psalm 95:3-5, 7 (NIV)
As I mentioned just a moment ago, all the joyful praise that we are to give is based totally and completely on seeing God the way He really is. The reason the Psalmist could sing for joy and shout aloud and extol God was that he recognized the sovereignty of God in His creation and the sufficiency of God as the Shepherd of His people.
If we really want to love God and worship Him properly then our worship must always be based on the truth of who God is. When Jesus was talking to the woman at the well in John 4, he made that really clear.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
John 4:24 (NIV)
So how do we make sure that we see God the way He really is? How do we make sure we worship in truth? We make sure that our worship is centered in the Word of God, where God reveals Himself to us. That’s why we make sure we incorporate the Bible into our worship services in a number of different ways. We read God’s Word, we listen to God’s Word, we preach God’s Word and we sing God’s Word.
And we do all those things so that as we gather together as a body of believers, we can experience the true God together. And when we do that well, how can we help but respond to God with joyful praise?
Submit myself to God in reverent awe
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Psalm 95:6 (NIV)
In addition to the times of joyful praise, there are also times in worship where we need to slow things down and just submit ourselves to God in reverent awe. In this verse, the Psalmist exhorts worshippers to bow down and to kneel before God. It’s interesting that both the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated “worship” in our English Bibles mean “to bow down” or “to prostrate oneself.” Although the words originally described the physical act of bowing down, they came to describe the attitude of worship in which we voluntarily submit ourselves to God.
And although I’m not sure it would necessarily be a bad thing for us to kneel or bow down at times, it seems here that the Psalmist is more concerned with our attitude in worship. Sometimes when we experience God’s presence we can’t help but burst out in exuberant praise. But there are also those times when, like the passage we read in Isaiah 6 earlier this morning, we see the glory of God and we fall silent before him in reverent awe of who He is.
I’ll be real honest with you this morning. I’m not sure how well we do in incorporating that aspect of loving God in our worship services. I think sometimes we can do that with our music. There are some beautiful prayerful songs that help us just submit ourselves to the glory of God. Sometimes maybe we do it through pictures or videos on the screens, maybe at other times through prayer. I think we did that as we observed the Lord’s Supper together this morning. But maybe we just need to incorporate some more quiet time into the service where we can just meditate on God and bow down before Him in awe.
Hear God’s voice
…Today, if you hear his voice…
Psalm 95:7 (NIV)
I believe that God can speak to our hearts through every part of our worship service – the music, prayer, the Children’s Sermon, the message, the offering, even through the announcements. But in order for us to hear His voice, we have to listen. We have to be ready to hear His voice when He speaks to us.
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I’m sure she had it coming."
We live in a world today where we are constantly bombarded with various stimuli from all directions. We’re experts in multi-tasking. We can watch TV, listen to music on the IPod, play a game and read the newspaper all at one time.
And here’s the very latest tool to help us in our frenzy to try to do so many things at once. (Show picture of toilet.)
And when we come to church we try to do the same thing. We’re thinking about where we’re going to go to lunch after church, what we’re going to wear to work tomorrow, who is playing football this afternoon, why the Wildcats couldn’t win that basketball game last night. And so like all those people who didn’t really hear what Franklin Roosevelt said, we miss God when He speaks to us.
We have spiritual ADD, but there is no magic spiritual Ritalin that we can take to solve our problem. We just have to make a commitment that at least to start with we’re going to take one hour out of our week on Sunday mornings where we’re going to concentrate on nothing but listening to God, so that we can hear His voice. We’re going to think about the words of the songs we are singing and how they express what God is like and how we respond to Him. We’re going to do more than just mouth the words of the Scripture when we read them. We’re going to think about the message and specifically how God wants me to apply that message to my own life. We’re going to respond to God when His Holy Spirit brings conviction.
One hour a week is not nearly enough to have a relationship with God, but it’s certainly a good place to start.
Implement God’s Word in my life
…do not harden your hearts…
Psalm 95:8 (NIV)
In verses 8-11, the Psalmist refers to the actions of the nation of Israel at Meribah and Massah. We can read the accounts of these situations in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. In both instances, the people had heard the word of God, but rather than responding to Him with praise and obedience, they began to grumble and complain.
In Exodus 17, the people had recently experienced God’s redemption from bondage in Egypt. In chapter 15, they sing a great song of praise for God’s deliverance. Then, in response to the grumbling of the people, God had provided sweet water and manna and quail for them to eat. Now the people were camping at Rephidim and then begin to grumble again. Just when they are about to stone Moses to death, God commands Moses to strike the rock with his staff and water gushed from the rock for the people to drink.
Nearly 40 years later, there is a similar situation in Kadesh, Again the people are grumbling and complaining. This time God instructs Moses to speak to the rock, but in his anger he strikes it twice. Water still gushes forth, but as a result of his disobedience Moses is not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
It seems to me that the point the Psalmist is making here is that true worship is more than just rituals. It’s not just the singing of songs and shouting of praise and acts of reverent awe. Worship is first and foremost an act of obedience. As we hear God speak to us, we respond to Him in obedience. When we fail to do that, the psalmist reminds us that what happens is that our hearts are hardened.
That’s one of the reasons that we provide you with an opportunity to respond to God as part of our worship service each Sunday morning. It’s our intention that you would use that time to think about how God has been speaking to you and then decide how you need to respond to Him.
You can either use that time to grumble about how long the sermon was or to focus on how great God is. You can use that time to think about where you’re going for lunch or to think about how God wants you to apply His word in your life. You can use that time to write down your grocery list or to write down an application for your life.
We realize that in most cases, just a few minutes is far too short a time to do everything you need to do in order to respond to God in obedience. But it’s more than enough time to write down an application that you can follow through with later. Maybe there is a relationship you need to restore, maybe some sin that you need to confess, maybe some ministry that you need to be a part of, maybe a commitment to spend more time in God’s Word or in prayer.
You can sing with all your heart, come before God with reverent awe, even listen to Him as he speaks to you. But without an obedient response to Him, you haven’t worshipped.
Prepare my heart to experience God’s presence
Worship doesn’t just happen. I have to prepare my heart before I ever step into this building on Sunday. I need to come in great anticipation, understanding that I am entering into the presence of God. I need to expect that that I am going to interact with God. I need to believe that God is going to speak to my heart and I need to anticipate that I am going to respond to Him.
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalm 84:2 (NIV)
