Worship Series: The Sound of Worship (Ps 145)

Snippet of Sermon by Pastor Raymond Fong from Wesley Methodist Church

INTRODUCTION

The Psalm is dedicated to praising God and in the preface, it says, "David's Psalm of Praise." It was deemed to have been one of David's last few psalms. It is written in the acrostic linguistic style i.e. each stanza starting with a letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. There are 22 Hebrew alphabets but in the Psalm there are only 21 verses meaning that 1 letter was omitted perhaps by the scribe during the copying process. This Psalm is recited three times a day by Israelites: twice in the morning and once in the evening. It was believed that doing so, one would definitely be blessed.

SERMON

There are 3 characteristics to the sound of worship.
1. Loud & Joyous: The word "extol" (ruwm) means to lift up on high. This is not only an outward expression but it also indicates the inner posture of the worshiper. That posture consists in:

• Humility (Shaa): to prostrate oneself before the Lord.
• Reverence (Yare): to fear the Lord.
• Service (Abad): readiness to work, labour, serve the Lord.

This posture determines the sound that we produce in worship. v 2 "I will Praise (Halal) your name" means to boast, to rave, to show off energetically. So there is a place for the loudness of worship unto the Lord. John Wesley himself in his Directions for Singing wrote, "Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan." It is alright to give ourselves in adoration spontaneously and loudly much like the flash mobs we see today, people coming together in the streets spontaneously, with great energy, singing and dancing together.

Reflection Questions:
a. What actions of God will blow you away?
b. Examine your problem accepting loudness in worship.

Shout for joy the Psalmist says. It is commanded of us. Loudness does not always mean that it will be chaotic. That's why in the Directions for Singing written by John Wesley are these words:
"Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
 

Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first."

Do not sing in such a way as to become a distraction to others. There is a place for togetherness.

2. Creative and Fresh: In v 10, all the saints are invited to praise the Lord. In

• Psalm 96:11-12 "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. ¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy."
• Psalm 98:8 "Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;"
• Psalm 8:2 " Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."

Because God is creative, when his creation praises Him, it's creative as well. In many places in Scripture, we are exhorted to "sing a new song" to the Lord e.g. Psalm 91:6; Rev 5:9; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:1; Isaiah 40:3. "His mercies are new every morning," so our sounds of worship are to be creative as well. Here are some ways to be creative:

• Instrumental Harmony: We may use different musical instruments just like the way David employed the lute and the harp etc. We can use even the Chinese er hu.
• Arrangement and Improvisation: He shared how at one worship in his church, they had the use of an Irish bagpipe before carols were sung etc.
• Vocal Expression: We may at times decide to sing without the use of music. He shared how he had the experience of listening to the Yi people in China who sang in 3 part harmony, blending their voices naturally. These people had no musical or vocal training, yet they were making creative sounds to the Lord.

3. Individual and Personal: The Psalm began in a big way, every part of creation is to praise the Lord. Yet in v 21, David concluded the Psalm like this, "My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD". He had been through a lot in his life: his own folly, the betrayal of friends, of his own son etc. yet he had experienced God's deliverances time and time again. He had experienced both vicotry and defeat in the various seasons of his life. So from his heart comes a different song, a mature song of praise.

Reflection Question:
c. If all of life is a song to the Lord, what is the sound like? What is the sound of your worship to the Lord?

John Wesley's Directions for Singing (Click on this link)

Worship Series :The Beauty of Worship (Psalm 96)

Sermon Snippet by Mr Christopher Chan

INTRODUCTION

Some say that this Psalm is written in the context of the exiles hearing about the possible return to Israel. Therefore, it has many similarities with Isaiah 40-55. The Psalm looks like a declaration of God’s reign in response to Israel’s exile.

SERMON PROPER

 

I.  Invitation to praise God our King (v.1-3)

 

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PS 96 & ISAIAH 40-55
• Proclaim good news, tell of His salvation (Isa 40:9; 52:7,10; Ps 96:2)
• God’s reign (Isa 52:7; Ps 96:10)
• Life or salvation for all (Isa 49:6; 52:7,10; Ps 96:2)
• God’s will for justice (Isa 42:1-2; Ps 96:10-13)
• “Sing to the Lord a new song” (Isa 42:10)
• A new song sung in response to the “new things” God is doing – Israel’s return from exile, a “new exodus”
• We celebrate our spiritual exodus and sing a new song to the Lord!

We remember that at the 1st exodus, the people broke out into song when they crossed the red see in Exodus 15. Now God is bringing a second exodus to pass and will be doing new things in their midst, the Psalmist invited the people to sing a new song to the Lord. Today in that same pattern, we are to worship the Lord and praise him for the new things that he has done. All of us have had a spiritual exodus as well. Before we were in Christ, we were condemned to death, enslaved to sin, living in darkness. But God has delivered us in Jesus having brought us from darkness into his light and set us free from the former enslavement to sin. Because of these things that God has done, we want to join the Israelites to sing about God;s deliverance and make the words of the Psalmist our own joyfully, boisterously.

This Psalm is also missionary in nature as it calls on the whole earth to praise God and make him known. Praise is the OVERFLOW of a forgiven soul. Illustration: Football fans go into a frenzy when their favorite club wins and they are filled with tremendous excitement to inform others about their club's win. Thsi is what our worship should be like. What passions do you have when it comes to the good news of Jesus Christ? Are you filled with that same exxcitement? Too often it is not so.

Perhaps our problem is our over-familiarity with God's goodness. Familarity robs us of our joy and our excitement. How can becoming familiar not cause us to find it boring and we lose our excitement? We need to open ourselves to experience once over and over again the greatness of the truth that God has given to us. Only that can bring that new freshness into our lives. Then we will have more reasons to praise God. Have we indeed stopped at some point in our experience of the newness that God brings, so that our spirits are jaded and there is no impetus to praise flowing out of our souls.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1.      Have we been praising God joyfully, exuberantly? If we are bored, why is that so? What has happened to the outflow of your forgiven soul?

2.      What must you do to experience daily newness that God wants to bring into your life?

3.      Have we been making Him known?

II. Recognize His attributes (v.4-9)

The Psalmist makes a list of God’s attributes:

•         Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised (v.4)
•         He is to be feared above all gods (v.4), we tremble in His holy presence (v.9)
•         God is the Almighty Creator (v.5)
•         Splendour, majesty, strength and beauty (v.6)
•         Give Him glory and praise, bring an offering (v.7-8)

All the gods of the peoples are worthless. He is not like all the others. So all of this come together, we want to give him glory and praise and bring an offering. here is just a sampling of the reasons to praise God. The Psalmist makes the declaration, “the lord reigns, his justice and righteousness.”

III. Celebrate His righteous reign (v.10-11)

We live in a broken and fallen world, we can speak to it and declare also that the Lord reigns, there will be no evil and pain ever again at the end of time. That's our confidence. Inspite of the fallenness that we see around us, this is a wonderful declaration.

CONCLUSION
What does all this have say to us about the beauty of worship?

As we gather as the people of God, how does it come across to us as beautiful? The answer is not direct. We have come across some of the wonders of the world e.g. Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Taj Mahal in India but these pictures don't do justice to the real thing. But even though some of us can only google and see the online pictures of these wonders, they can still inspire us to see how magnificent these places are. The pictures alone spontaneously cause us to gasp, utter an admiring wow, praising it for its beauty and ability to inspire.

Worship should be like that: it should be a wow experience as we take in all things beautiful since all beauty is a pale reflection of the true beauty of God. It is important to remember that the beauty of worship is similarly determined by the object of our worship. What is the true focus of our worship? We do see this beauty as we reflect on who he is and what he has done. However, we have often traded this by making ourselves the center of worship albeit unintentionally. This happens when we make ourselves the primary concern.

Dale Rosenberger quotation: “It is strange and painfully ironic how in the name of worshipping God we put ourselves at the centre of all things and make ourselves the measure of all things. Did everybody “get something” out of worship? Was I inspired? Were my needs met? we ask. On the basis of self-referential questions, we decide whether or not worshipping God was successful or meaningful. But the point of worship is pleasing God. Pleasing ourselves comes in a distant second here. The pleasure that borders upon deep, abiding joy derives from pleasing God or, perhaps better, “enjoying God,” as one confession has it. Quite simply, worship could be very powerful, even intensely pleasurable, if we moved ourselves out of the way and allowed God the rightful place front and centre. Frankly, it is a measure of our self-absorption that something so essential to worship as this hardly occurs to us.”

What is our central concern at worship, who are we desiring to please? Most of the time we are absorbed about how it impacts us rather than how it has brought pleasure to the Lord. Giving priority aimed at pleasing God than pleasing our congregation and ourselves is an important change to make when we worship. Ps 96 captures the beauty of worship because it is so God centered about who he is and what he has done. If we make him our primary concern, we will experience this beauty of worship. Bring the focus back to God. Let Him "take His rightful place" in our midst.

 

Take Your Rightful Place (Response song written by speaker)

In the splendour of Your holiness
We bow in loving adoration
In the glory of Your presence, God
We stand in awe of You

There’s no one more worthy of all honour
You deserve our greatest praise
Our freedom is found in our surrender
As You take Your rightful place

Let every heart
Let every part of our lives
Be wholly Yours, O God
Let our greatest aim
Be Your pleasure and praise
Come and take Your rightful place